Sewage spill prompts beach closure in Marina del Rey
The San Diego County Clean Water Commission is advising residents and visitors to avoid the area between Pacific Coast Highway and the California-Mexico border, which includes the Marina del Rey shoreline, when the City of Marina del Rey, the Port of San Diego, and three County of San Diego wastewater treatment plants are scheduled to discharge wastewater into the ocean for the next few weeks.
The warning is in response to a major sewage spill in the Harbor Drive area near Balboa Boulevard, just south of the San Diego River. The spill occurred Thursday morning and caused water to backup, flooding a community with over 200 homes along the San Diego coast.
“The City of Marina del Rey released large amounts of sewage in the Harbor Drive neighborhood of San Diego County,” said San Diego County Sanitation Chief Mark Hines. “This sewage spilled into the surrounding coastline.”
Hines said that, as a result, the Harbor Drive neighborhood has received a sewage water main break and is currently experiencing sewage water and sewage flooding.
Hines said the sewage spill occurred because the wastewater treatment plant in the Harbor Drive area couldn’t handle the volume of sewage it is currently dumping into the ocean. The wastewater treatment plant will begin pumping sewage out to sea on Saturday. From Saturday through March 13, the Harbor Drive area will experience a major sewage water main break.
“The sewage spill is part of a chronic sewer overflow issue that San Diego County and its agencies have been dealing with for several years,” said Hines.
The sewage water main break and sewage flooding in the Harbor Drive neighborhood and in the city of San Diego are under the jurisdiction of the County and Port of San Diego. Those entities are responsible for responding to the sewage water main break and sewage flooding in the Harbor Drive area and in San Diego County.
“San Diego County is preparing to continue emergency response efforts and is prepared to provide technical support to the city in managing the sewage water main break and sewage flooding in the San Diego River and Harbor Drive area,” said Hines.
Marina del Rey has a long history of sewage water main breaks in the city. San Diego County Sanitation, along with Caltrans, has been working together to manage this issue over the past
