A sewage spill in Newport Beach has caused a portion of Newport Bay to shut down to swimming and surfing.

The 200 gallons created a half-mile span to be closed, from Bayside Drive Beach (near Harbor Patrol headquarters)  to Bayside Place, according to the Orange County Health Agency. The earliest the area will be open is Thursday.

The cause of the spill is still unknown, but it likely occurred from oils and grease built up from a restaurant, or tree roots that have taken over the sewage line, said Larry Honeybourne, program manager of the county’s water quality department.

Click here or on the image to the right to view a map of the closure area.
From 1999 to 2007, there have been 277 sewage spills in Orange County, 62 percent from some sort of blockage.
The spill occurred at 3000 E. Coast Highway at about 8:30 a.m. The city waste water agency was out there within 10 minutes, sucking out the sewage with a large vaccum-like device.

Honeybourne said this isn’t considered a large spill, and there’s not many beach bathers who come to this area, but some scuba divers go into the water here to clean boats.

According to a recent study by Heal the Bay, the number of beach closures in Orange County has dropped from previous years.

Of the 12 total sewage spills during the report period, the only spill of “significant size” happened at Aliso Creek in July, which left the beach closed for several days. Read more from that that “Beach Bummer” blog here.

For more info, go to ocbeachinfo.com

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