All seven beaches initially closed because of an 8.5 million gallon raw sewage spill in Carson last week have are now open.
Officials from the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts posted the information late Wednesday, Jan. 5. The last four beaches remaining closed — three areas along the Long Beach coastline and the inner/harbor side of Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro — reopened just hours earlier.
Beaches stretching from Rancho Palos Verdes to Orange County were closed after the spill, which stemmed from a broken pipe. They reopened only after successive water testing showed bacterial levels within the state’s acceptable norms.
Also on Wednesday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn introduced a motion asking for a full assessment of the 4,600 miles of mainline sewer infrastructure in the county. A report back was requested in 30 days and the assessment will involve the system within the Consolidated Sewer Maintenance District of Los Angeles County, which is administered by the county’s Department of Public Works.
The district covers sewers in unincorporated areas and 37 cities with more than 2 million residents.
While the sewers are not within the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts where recent problems, including the most recent sewer spill, have occurred, the assessment is designed to make sure similar incidents don’t reoccur anywhere within the county.
Cleaning from the most recent spill has also been completed on 212th Street in Carson. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts has started fanning out to perform car washings and is making preparations with a landscaper to replace parkway grass on one side of the street.
Preparations are also underway to begin slip-lining when new pipe arrives next week. Workers will pour concrete at the bottom of the excavation to create a waterproof area along the sides of the damaged sewer. Then the 42-inch slip-lining pipe will be put into the existing 45-inch sewer pipe. The condition of nearby sewers will also be inspected at that time.
