Roundup

A sewage spill at the storm water outlet Saturday afternoon at 11th

Street forced the closure of parts of Huntington Harbour through

Wednesday.

Admiralty Drive, Peter’s Landing Marina, 11th Street Beach, and Sunset

Aquatic Marina were all closed Monday to Wednesday so the Orange County

Health Care Agency could run tests and collect samples.

Larry Honeybourne, of the health care agency, said 2,000 gallons of

raw sewage leaked into the harbor when a gasket broke on a sewer main.

“Certain locations have to be pumped as opposed to the water in a

toilet being flushed and pulled by gravity. This is one of those

pressurized pipes that has to be pumped,” Honeybourne said.

Honeybourne added that the biggest concern with a sewage spill is

ingestion of even a small amount of water because of the possible

contamination from human diseases from the sewage in the water. He said

windsurfers, swimmers and commercial divers cleaning boat bottoms would

be at the most risk of ingesting the water.

Honeybourne said it takes a minimum of 24 hours to analyze samples

because bacteria must be grown.

“The city received the initial call at 12:35 p.m. Saturday and

notified county agencies by 1 p.m.,” said Rich Barnard, director of

communications for the city.