Community Corner

Sewage Spill Closes Coronado Beach

Crews have stopped the spill, but 50 gallons emptied into the bay.

The beach at Crown Cove Aquatic Center on the San Diego Bay side of was closed Wednesday due to a sewer main malfunction that caused an estimated 200-gallon spill, most of it on land.

City officials report an air release valve broke off the sewer main and the sewage flowed across a bike path, down an embankment and onto an asphalt underpass that leads to a storm discharge pipe.

About 50 gallons of sewage was discharged through the two-inch pipe into the bay before City of Coronado employees were able to turn off the pump.

Find out what's happening in Coronadowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Local authorities were notified of the spill, and samples were taken of the water for analysis by San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health.

Crown Cove staff has been advised to stay out of the water.  Signs warning of contaminated water are posted and will remain in place until samples confirm it is safe to swim.

Find out what's happening in Coronadowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A bicyclist found the spill at 7:40 a.m. at an underpass between the bay and the beach below State route 75. City officials arrived at 7:50 a.m. and were able to turn off the Cays force main pump by 8 a.m. The discharge pipe runs approximately 1,000 feet to the bay and is submerged where it ends.

City staff recovered about 150 gallons of the spill near the underpass, and has disinfected the area. Repairs to the sewer main are under way.

-City press release


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