The beaches at Dockweiler and El Segundo could reopen as soon as Thursday if water quality tests pass state standards. Seventeen million gallons of raw sewage were dumped into the ocean early Monday, forcing closures along miles of the coastline.
Timeyin Dafeta is the executive director of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey, where the spill occurred. He told KNX that samples will be taken again Wednesday.
“The county department of public health is going to make a determination about whether it’s now safe enough to go back in the water,” said Dafeta.
“We are hopeful that the results will be positive, and that the beaches will be open as soon as possible.”
According to Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn there was a mechanical failure at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant on the shore near Los Angeles International Airport.
Hahn said Tuesday she would be seeking answers about how the spill happened from the city.
“We need answers from L.A. City Sanitation about what went wrong and led to this massive spill, but we also need to recognize that L.A. County Public Health did not effectively communicate with the public and could have put swimmers in danger,” said Hahn in a statement.
Concerns have been raised about when the public was notified of the spill. County officials reportedly waited hours before they informed the public that swimming areas were potentially affected by high levels of bacteria.
According to the LA Times, not only was there a delay, but officials from the LA County Department of Public Health were actually at the water plant when the emergency discharge procedure occurred.
Public health officials did not post a beach closure advisory on their website urging residents to avoid swimming at Dockweiler and El Segundo beaches and shared the notification on Twitter until 5:30 p.m. Monday, about an hour after officials left the Playa del Rey plant.
“A press release posted on the LA County Department of Public Health webpage is not good enough,” said Shelley Luce, according to the paper.
Luce is the president and chief executive of Heal the Bay. She said county officials should have used social media to inform the public earlier on Monday.
“It’s time for a better protocol,” she added.