The Los Angeles County Public Health Department lifted a series of bacteria warnings for Dockweiler State Beach on Monday afternoon, Aug. 2, following tests at several sites that showed the beach no longer exceeds state standards.
County officials repeatedly warned visitors over the weekend to exercise caution when surfing, playing or swimming in the waters near the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant due to higher than usual amounts of bacteria. Tests conducted Monday, however, showed the beaches had returned to an acceptable level, according to the public health department’s beach quality tracker.
Only one Los Angeles County beach, Avalon Beach on Catalina Island, still displayed a bacteria advisory as of 4 p.m. Monday.
Excessive levels of bacteria can cause illness, such as vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain.
Public health officials have maintained that the increases in bacteria seen last week were not due to the emergency discharge of 17 million gallons of untreated sewage from the Hyperion treatment plant earlier this month. Bacteria levels often fluctuate day to day and can be impacted by the weather, officials said.
Operations at Hyperion, located just south of Los Angeles International Airport, were disrupted when an unusually large amount of debris caused a flood at the plant July 11 and forced workers to expel the sewage from a pipeline a mile from shore. Strong smells have emanated from the plant since the incident, prompting Los Angeles to offer hotel vouchers and reimbursements for air conditioners to El Segundo residents.
The flooding damaged the plant’s equipment and reduced its ability to treat the more than 260 million gallons of sewage that passes through it on a daily basis. As a result, the facility has continued to release millions of gallons of partially treated sewage — sewage that goes through the full treatment process, but does not meet state standards — from a 5-mile outfall while repair work is underway.
Tests conducted near the 1- and 5-mile pipelines did not show the same high level of bacteria later found near the beaches, according to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. Experts say it is unlikely, due to the depth and distance the wastewater is released, that the partially treated discharges at the 5-mile outfall will impact the shoreline.
Beachgoers can call the county’s 24-hour beach closure hotline at 800-525-5662 for up-to-date information about beach conditions. Additional information is available on the Public Health Department’s website.