Spills Prompt Closing of Five Beaches

Two sewage spills in the first four days of the new year prompted the closure of five small Orange County beaches, health officials said Tuesday.

The closures, in Newport Beach and Huntington Harbour, are reminiscent of last summer, when much of Huntington Beach was off-limits to swimmers and surfers because of high bacteria readings. Authorities eventually traced the contamination to runoff from a nearby channel.

This week’s spills “have been relatively small,” said Larry Honeybourne, program chief of the Orange County Health Care Agency’s water quality section, “but their proximity to the bays creates quite a concern.”

He said the first spill was reported Sunday morning, when about 1,500 gallons of raw sewage flowed out of a manhole at Avocado Avenue and Waterfront Drive in Newport Beach. The spill, caused by tree roots and grease clogging a sewer line, flowed into a storm drain system emptying into Newport Bay.

As a result, Honeybourne said, county officials closed China Cove, Harbor Patrol and Rocky Point beaches, which together cover about half a mile. “They are very small cove beaches in the area of the harbor mouth,” he said.

The second spill, reported Monday afternoon, was from a private sewer line operated by a homeowners association in Huntington Harbour. It flowed into the harbor, prompting closure of Trinidad Beach and Westchester Bay Docks to swimmers and divers. The cause and extent of that spill are being investigated, Honeybourne said.

“The closures are just precautions,” Honeybourne said. The affected Newport Beach shoreline will be off limits at least until this afternoon, he said, while the Huntington Harbour areas will reopen no earlier than Thursday.

In addition to the summer’s extended closure of Huntington Beach because of water pollution, sewage leaks in November forced officials to shut down Salt Creek and Doheny State Beach in south Orange County.

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Off-Limits

Reminiscent of last summer’s beach closures, several small stretches of the Orange County coastline are closed because of sewage spills.

Trinidad Beach

Harbor Patrol

China Cove

Rocky Point

Source: Newport Beach Lifeguards, Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Division.