50,000 Gallons Of Sewage Spills In Huntington Beach

In America, the first Monday of September is a holiday.

Monday’s a wash and there’s some tradition about not wearing white for the rest of the year. The origins of Labor Day goes all the way back to 1882 and was started by New York City unions. There’s no reason to share this information with you, other than the fact that it’s Labor Day weekend, and just in time for three days of fun and sun, over 50,000 gallons of raw sewage are currently swirling around the waters of Surf City U.S.A.

Earlier this week, a blocked sewer main spewed and an estimated 50,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Huntington Harbor in Huntington Beach. As you think they might be inclined to do, local officials have closed the waters in the area. The leak apparently went on for over nine hours before it was remedied. It was initially believed that 60,000 gallons had been released, but that number was later revised down to 50,000—either way, it’s shitty.

For the moment the spill is contained in Huntington Harbor, where a handful of recreational swimming beaches have been closed. At this time no surf breaks appear to be affected. Nearby Seal Beach and Surfside have not been closed—but probably not a good idea to go drinking the water.

There were multiple sewage spills in Huntington Harbor in 2018, and now this incident, so obviously there’s a problem there that’s not being fixed. With the U.S. Naval Weapons Station, the San Gabriel River and Long Beach to the north, the area’s environment takes a regular beating. Dumping 50,000 gallons of raw sewage certainly doesn’t help. There’s a reason one of the old local salty guys was simply known as “the specimen.”

Moral of the story, if you’re in Orange County this Labor Day weekend and keen to get in the water, maybe give the northern slice of the county a hard pass.