Politics & Government

L.B. Beaches Remain Closed Likely Through Monday

It's still unknown if the sewage spill of 250,000 gallons into the L.A. River has reached our shores.

Belmont Shore and other Long Beach shorelines will be too polluted by rain runoff to bother testing whether a 250,000-gallon sewage spill inland has made its way down the L.A. River to sea.

Either way, the beaches should remain off-limits for water contact through Monday due to forecasted rain arriving midday today, said Steve Nakauchi of the Long Beach Environmental Services Department.

Today's rain forecast will render the water unhealthy because rain runoff carries higher levels of bacteria and pollutants, and the rain showers are expected to show up Friday. Health officials such as Nakauchi say 72 hours is minimum time  to wait after a rainstorm to enter the water.

Find out what's happening in Belmont Shore-Napleswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As to whether the raw sewage spill has reached our local shores yet, Nakauchi said: "You can't really answer that. We go by the (water quality) samples, but because of the rain we're off the charts, the bacteria is very high. But it also could be what we normally get after a big rain."

As a result, he said, his department wasn't bothering to take water samples Tuesday or the next few days because even if the rain ceased Friday, there would be no one in the lab to run the tests or read the results.

Find out what's happening in Belmont Shore-Napleswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

'"Our general rule is to stay out of the water at least 72 hours after a significant rain, which we had and may have again, and until the sample numbers go back to normal. And we know that won't happen for a time anyway."

"If we get a substantial rain over the weekend, the beaches could be closed [to water contact] even longer than this week," Nakauchi added.

The National Weather Service is predicting light showers and heavy winds as early as 11 a.m. but more likely a tad later as part of a cold, low-pressure system moving into the region. Temps today might not rise higher than 50 degrees and approximately a third of an inch of rainfall is expected.

The forecast calls for Belmont Shore and Naples to get less than a half inch of rain, and the odds of more rain drop to only 30% on Thursday, before the rain returns Thursday night and Friday, the weather service reports. But it also calls for Saturday and Sunday to be sunny with some cloudiness.

 In addition to the rain and gray skies, it will be cold too. In Long Beach, the overnight lows this week will be in the upper 40s and the daytime highs are expected to peak at 60 to 61 degrees.

Due to overburdened sewage systems in Studio City during the strongest phase of the last downpour, waste flowed Sunday night into the Los Angeles River before it could be contained, L.A. and Long Beach health officers said. Studio City Patch is reporting that the rain this time around is not expected to cause flooding.


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