Laura Deehan
State Director, Environment California
[email protected]
Our statement: Sewage spill should never have happened
Media Contacts
Beach closures underscore urgency of investments in clean water infrastructure
Environment California
LOS ANGELES — The county Department of Public Health closed Dockweiler State Beach and El Segundo Beach on Tuesday after Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Marina Del Rey reported dumping 17 million gallons of sewage just one mile offshore. The water treatment plant said it had to dump the sewage to avert an even larger spill because of large amounts of debris clogging up aging pipes.Testing is underway to determine whether the water now contains unsafe levels of bacteria.
In response, Environment California State Director Laura Deehan issued this statement:
“The Hyperion Water Reclamation sewage spill now threatening California beaches should never have happened. The Clean Water Act was meant to completely protect our water so that Californians could swim without fear of getting sick from raw sewage.
“Our recent report, Safe for Swimming, found that some Southern California beaches have unsafe levels of this kind of bacteria over one hundred days per year.
“This example underscores how important the clean water infrastructure bill, now moving through Congress, will be for our ability to live the California dream without fecal matter making us sick or contaminating our surfboard or our kid’s floating device.”
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Environment California works for clean air, clean water, clean energy, wildlife and open spaces, and a livable climate. Our members across the state put grassroots support behind our research and advocacy. Environment California is part of Environment America, a national network of 29 state environmental groups. For more information about Environment California visit: www.environmentcalifornia.org.
Environment California is part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to social change.
