This week’s torrential rains created a cluster of sewage spills in Southern California that, at any other time, might’ve been huge environmental news.
On Monday, Feb. 5, about 8 million gallons of raw waste flowed into the Dominguez Channel and from there, into the ocean at Cabrillo Beach. Just before and just after that event, at least four smaller spills hit Seal Beach, Palos Verdes and Doheny Beach among other places.
All of the spills were rain-related and all posed measurable threats to public health.
But, collectively, the spills also exemplified the stakes in what many experts describe as a race to save the ocean off Southern California, a race that’s shaped by global warming, public money and time.
Either cities and counties will redesign the century-old network of underground pipes, cemented rivers and culverts used to control sewage and storm runoff in much of Southern California, or, experts say, we’ll suffer as climate change causes enough huge storms to pull us back to a time when the Pacific Ocean was the region’s de-facto toilet.
“Stormwater is the number one source of pollution to the ocean and all our regional waterways, including rivers and lakes,” said Katherine Pease, director of science and policy for Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based non-profit that produces an annual “Beach Report Card” and advocates for cleaner waters in the ocean and elsewhere.
“That’s a big concern,” Pease added.
“Our storm drain and sewer systems, which for the most part have been working for many years, have become aged. Now, when we see events like this week’s storm, we see a huge pollution problem.”
That certainly played out this week. In each of the spills, health officials found that bacteria and viral counts, and evidence of fecal matter, were all high enough in the ocean off Los Angeles and Orange counties to close beaches from San Pedro to as far south as Anaheim Landing.
In that sense, experts said, this week’s spills…
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