Beaches Close since the Water is Gross
The iconic beaches of Southern California became polluted on Feb. 5 when an estimated 8 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Dominguez Channel and entered the Pacific Ocean. After an investigation, sanitation officials confirmed that the sewer discharge was a result of the recent atmospheric river, an intense form of rainfall. This torrential downpour brought between 6 to 12 inches of rain and over 7 billion gallons of stormwater in the Los Angeles region, causing street flooding which then leaked into the sewage system via city manholes. Pipelines were overwhelmed, resulting in the initial overflow of sewage into the Dominguez Channel (New York Post). An additional 40,000 gallons of sewage from the city of Commerce also spilled into the ocean on the same day through the LA River. Sewage spills are nothing new to LA County as untreated wastewater has been spilling into California beaches sporadically since 2018. These previous incidents were caused by the failure of sewage systems and also led to beach closures. Despite this, Californian sanitation officials insist that overwhelming rainfall was to blame for the most recent spill rather than a problem with infrastructure or maintenance. Sophomore Gianna Barbieri believes that this claim is not only illogical, but also dangerous.
“It is so irresponsible for the city’s sanitation department to absolve themselves of any responsibility [in regards to the sewage spill],” Barbieri said. “If the city had made sure that the sewage system was up to date and working properly, this spill would not have occurred, or at least not be as large and dangerous as it was. Even though the rain contributed [to the spill], it is still the sanitation department’s job to ensure that the pipes could withstand such extreme weather.”
The Los Angeles Water Board Chair agrees with this claim, calling for the modernization of the sewage system to account for factors like extreme weather. The most dire sewage spill incident in California occurred in Dec. 2021 when a mainline ruptured during a rainstorm, spewing approximately 8.5 million gallons of raw sewage into the same areas as the Feb. 5 spill (Los Angeles Times).
These recent spills prompted health officials to temporarily close the waters of Long Beach and Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro to swimmers and surfers so that they could conduct tests for chemicals and bacteria. A water advisory was already in place before the spill, warning people from entering the ocean as it was contaminated by the bacterial runoff; the sewage spill thus contributed further to the contamination of the waters. Contact with water contaminated by bacteria, which typically survives in saltwater for up to three days, can cause gastrointestinal illnesses, rashes and skin and eye infections, with children and the elderly especially susceptible (Los Angeles County Department of Public Health). After nine days, most of the dangerous bacteria died and Long Beach was reopened on Feb. 16 and Cabrillo Beach on Feb. 29 after test results confirmed the water met state water quality standards. Freshman Lincoln Kopsombut stresses the importance of complying with health officials.
“Given that sewage is raw human waste, people should avoid entering waters it spilled into,” Kopsombut said. “Contact with the contaminated water could have dire long-term health consequences. It is crucial to heed the warnings of health officials and remain up to date on the situation, especially for people living in Long Beach and San Pedro.”
Besides health concerns, the spill of raw sewage raises an environmental issue. Cabrillo Beach is particularly environmentally sensitive due to the high amount of bacteria introduced into its water. The chemicals from the spill will harm the diverse wildlife of the Los Angeles Harbor area, which includes numerous species of fish like white fish and bass as well as invertebrates like crabs and lobsters (Cabrillo Marine Aquarium). Predators of these organisms like herons and seagulls can also become sick by eating infected fish. In this process, called biomagnification, the amount of toxic material that one organism consumes becomes more concentrated as predators consume higher amounts of infected organisms. Furthermore, untreated sewage brings with it an excessive amount of nutrients which algae feed on. This may seem beneficial to the untrained eye, but in reality it can lead to the formation of algal blooms, a large population of algae which is detrimental to coastal environments. Although this has not occurred in Cabrillo, it is possible for algal blooms to suffocate aquatic life by depleting oxygen levels and killing underwater plants by blocking sunlight. Freshman biology student Alessia Alcala stresses the importance of containing and preventing algal blooms.
“Once an algal bloom enters an aquatic environment, it poses a serious threat to the ecosystem’s organisms,” Alcala said. “Once one ‘level’ of the food chain is killed by losing access to sunlight and oxygen, every level above it will lose its food source and eventually die as well. Due to the absolute destruction of an ecosystem that will occur along with an algal bloom, it is important for scientists to control the amount of nutrients flowing into the water and consistently test the water quality.”
