A lingering effect of the heavy rainstorms in Southern California is a massive number of sewage spills, which have shut down swimming areas in San Pedro and Long Beach.
The L.A. County Sanitation District’s sewage system normally handles about 250 million gallons of raw sewage a day, spokesman Brian Langpap told KNX News’ Pete Demetriou. He said rain from this week’s historic storm more than doubled that volume Tuesday, causing overflows.
“When we get so much rain, the streets flood,” he explained. “When the streets flood, that water gets into the manhole lids and our sewers, and it adds extra water to the sewers.”
As a result, 8 million gallons of raw sewage bypassed treatment and got into the ocean.
Langpap said correcting the problem will require a joint effort involving several other cities that share the county’s sewers.
“Collectively as a group, we all need to look at the systems and figure out, where is this leakage coming from, and we’ve got to address it,” he said.
In the meantime, officials will be monitoring bacteria levels at Cabrillo Beach and along the Long Beach coastline. People are urged to stay out of the ocean for at least the next few days.
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