County officials have determined El Segundo beaches are safe to swim in after the 17-million-gallon spill of raw sewage on June 12, but the foul smells of the accident remain. El Segundo residents affected by the accident at the Hyperion Waste Treatment Facility will be able to get relief funds from the city of Los Angeles.
Relief from the stench at the plant will come in two forms according to LA Department of Public Works spokesperson Elena Stern.
“We are offering residents of El Segundo, within a certain boundary, reimbursement for air conditioning units or hotel stays,” she said.
There are limits to the reimbursement, however.
“The air conditioning units will be reimbursed $600 per household for homes that are 1,000 square feet or smaller and $1,200 for homes that are larger than 1,000 square feet.”
Residents who chose to stay in a hotel will be reimbursed for up to $182 dollars a day plus $62 dollars a day for food and incidentals for each member of the household.
Local officials say the odor will likely linger for several more weeks as repairs are being made.
You can file for reimbursement by going to lacitysan.org. The deadline for applications is set July 29, but that date could be extended if the cleanup is completed by that time.
The spill was caused by a mechanical failure at the water plant on the shore near Los Angeles International Airport, according to County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
She still wants answers from the city about how the failure happened to keep it from happening again.
“We need answers from LA City Sanitation about what went wrong and led to this massive spill, but we also need to recognize that LA County Public Health did not effectively communicate with the public and could have put swimmers in danger,” said Hahn in a statement.