A small sewage spill closed a portion of La Jolla Shores on Wednesday, the San Diego County Department of Environmental and Quality said, but testing allowed the beach to reopen on Thursday.
About 750 gallons of sewage leaked into the ocean near the beach access point from El Paseo Grande, about 1,000 feet south of Scripps Memorial Pier, according to DEQ spokesperson Donna Durckel.
Officials with the county's Beach and Bay Program were alerted to the sewage spill around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Durckel said. Crew members conducted water tests that indicated bacteria levels were unsafe to the public, which prompted the closure of the area 150 feet north and south of El Paseo Grande.
After water quality tests, the area was reopened on Thursday but an advisory was issued for the area 250 feet south and 500 feet north of Scripps Pier. Beachgoers should check the Beach and Bay Program website for the latest closure information.
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City spokesperson Arain Collins estimated the spill to be 850 gallons, of which 750 entered the storm drain and the ocean.
The spill was caused by a "foreign object" found in the sewage system, Collins said, but city crews were still working to determine how the object got there. The blockage caused pollution to spill over to the street and into the storm drain before ultimately flowing into the ocean.
La Jolla Shores does not experience frequent closures due to unsafe bacterial levels. The exact testing location of the current spill has not been closed since the California Water Resources Control Board began collecting data. The last time part of La Jolla Shores was closed was in 2018.
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The closures are all too familiar, though, to Imperial Beach residents who have seen their shorelines closed for hundreds of consecutive days due to thousands of gallons daily of raw sewage from Mexico.
Also included in the county's daily water quality tests is the shoreline from the International Border to the mouth of the Tijuana River, which has been closed for hundreds of days dut to an ongoing sewage crisis from Mexico.
La Jolla residents on Thursday know they can't compare their beach closure to the one further south.
"The quantity here is just like a drop in the in the ecosystem," said La Jolla resident Mary Maher. "They can't use the oceans because of the Tijuana Estuary pouring into the U.S."
Surfer Luke Jensen braved the La Jolla waters Thursday but knew he wouldn't do the same in the South Bay.
"It's not comparable. Different ball game play. Different ball game, different sport," Jensen said.
Advisories were also in place Thursday for:
- San Diego River Dog Beach
- Tamarack, Buena Vista Lagoon Outlet
- Harbor Beach
- La Jolla Children’s Pool