Sewage Spills Shut Beaches in Oceanside and La Jolla

Two sewage spills in the last two days have closed stretches of beach in La Jolla and Oceanside, San Diego County health officials said Wednesday.

Officials quarantined 200 yards of beach in Oceanside after trouble at a pump station caused more than 5,000 gallons of sewage to spill into the ocean.

Authorities said the spill occurred about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at a pump station near Oceanside Boulevard and Interstate 5 that is being overhauled.

As part of the project, the station’s regular pumps were taken out of commission and bypass pumps installed to continue flushing sewage toward the city’s main treatment plant.

Barry Martin, assistant water utility director, said one of the bypass pumps began to back up during peak morning flows. The sewage spilled out an emergency overflow pipe that leads into Loma Alta Creek and then was swept into the ocean at Buccaneer Beach.

Martin said officials expect that the beach will be posted with signs warning against swimming until the sewage has dissipated in a day or two.

In La Jolla, warning signs were posted along 200 yards of shoreline after a spill Tuesday that sent 1,200 gallons of sewage into the ocean, health officials said Wednesday.

The two-hour spill began at 11 a.m. on Eads Avenue when grease blocked a sewer line, officials said. The sewage overflowed from a manhole and ran into a storm drain that empties into the ocean at Coast Boulevard and Cuvier Street, officials said.