For the 13th consecutive year, Orange County beach closures due to sewage spills continued a trend below a 38-year average, according to the latest OC Health Care Agency report.
There were 71 sewage spills reported last year, which was below the 38- year average of 178 annually, according to the report. Of those, 4% led to shutdowns of ocean access.
The main cause of the sewage spills are blocked pipelines. Since 1999, 61% of the beach closures were the result of blocked pipelines.
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The main causes of the pipeline blockages are infiltration of roots (31%) and grease buildup (25%), with the rest unknown.
The rate of sewage waste spills "has trended down over the past 10 years," according to the report.
"The decrease is due to the wastewater collection agencies adopting Sewer System Management Plans, which require routine inspection, maintenance and rehabilitation of aging sewers," according to the report.
Last year, warnings to beachgoers for excess bacteria in the water -- known as Beach Mile Days -- went up 28 times. From 2000 to 2012, the average annually was 205, but "over the past 12 years the average number of posted warnings dropped significantly to 40 (beach mile days) a year," according to the report.
Last year, Bolsa Chica Beach, Crystal Cove State Beach and Capistrano County Beach avoided any of the beach mile days from April 1 to Halloween.
"Excellent bacteriological water quality (less than one beach mile days) was recorded at Seal Beach/Surfside/Sunset Beach, Huntington City Beach, Huntington State Beach, Newport Beach, Newport Slough, Dana Point Beach, Capistrano Bay District and San Clemente Beach monitoring locations from April 1 to October 31," according to the report.
The beaches that exceeded four beach mile days from the same time period were Doheny State Beach with 11.3 and Poche County Beach with four.
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