An average of 473 tons of trash has been picked up by city workers on Long Beach’s shores each month in 2023. Despite these efforts, Long Beach continues to have a negative reputation for dirty ocean water and closed-off beaches, partially due to sewage spills from neighboring regions.
Long Beach City Council appointed the City Attorney to look into ways for the city to receive compensation for “costs incurred by the city related to sewage spills,” on Tuesday, May 9, according to staff reports.
The city’s beaches have been closed to the public for health reasons eight times so far in 2023, with seven separate advisories cautioning residents to avoid contact with the ocean water, according to the Long Beach Bureau of Environmental Health.
The most recent sewage spillage that impacted Long Beach’s shores occurred on April 22, when 250,000 gallons of sewage spewed into the Pacific Ocean from the Los Angeles River. The incident prompted over a week of beach closures after the Bureau of Environmental Health deemed ocean waters a public health risk.
Long Beach’s ocean waters are the dumping zone for roughly 207 million gallons of water daily that travels through the Los Angeles River and ends up in Long Beach’s ocean waters, according to the Los Angeles Public Works Department.
City Council also asked City Manager Tom Modica to work with the Regional Water Quality Control Board to draft a report on:
- The date of recent sewage spillages
- The agency responsible for each incident
- Dates of spillages
- Amount of sewage spilled
- Ocean water areas impacted
- Costs incurred by Long Beach to clean the ocean waters following incidents of sewage spills
“We need to take a close look at this issue because we do not want to have that reputation of having contaminated water,” said Councilmember Kristina Duggan, who introduced the item to the council. “Contrary to popular belief, we have great water quality in the dry season. The city has spent time to make sure the quality is good, but we’ve been stigmatized by sewage spills.”
City staff will also look into the environmental, public health, social, fiscal and economic impacts Long Beach has faced due to sewage spillages.
The most recent sewage spillage in April was caused by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District cleaning sewage pipes, said Councilmember Suely Saro, who sits on the board for the district. There was another spill of 18,000 gallons of sewage water into Long Beach’s ocean waters/beaches in March, which also caused beaches to close.
Duggan pointed out the possible economic impacts of beach closures, stating that Long Beach’s shores are one of the driving points of tourism for the city.
“We would consider it a negative impact if our park’s community centers were closed,” Duggan said. “I don’t think we’re equating the beach to that kind of open space.”
Mayor Rex Richardson asked city staff to look into ways to “hold other cities accountable” for spilling sewage into Long Beach’s waters. City staff will report back to the council with its findings within 120 days.
