Bayshore Beach reopens after tests show safe bacteria levels

-- Susan McCormack

NEWPORT BEACH -- A stretch of Bayshore Beach reopened late Thursday

afternoon after the county announced that tests conducted on the beach’s

water showed acceptable bacteria levels.

Three hundred feet of the bayside beach was closed Tuesday after

Newport Beach utility workers found 800 gallons of raw sewage flowing

into the harbor from two different manholes near Dover and Westcliff

drives.

Workers determined that tree roots and grease clogging up the pipes

caused them to crack and leak the sewage.

Larry Honeybourne, program chief for the county’s Health Care Agency,

said the agency conducted two tests to determine whether or not the beach

was safe to reopen to swimmers. Honeybourne said the testing is standard

procedure, and that the second test was conducted Wednesday to confirm

the first test’s findings that the water was safe.

“Both tests showed the bacterial levels were well below state

standards,” Honeybourne said.