What’s Behind LA’s Recent Beach Closures?

Why Is This a Problem?

When it comes to bacterial contamination in our coastal waters, public health is always the primary concern. Such contamination poses serious risks for a range of acute and chronic illnesses and infections, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. That is why the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) regularly tests ocean water at over 50 locations throughout the county. When bacterial levels exceed state ocean water quality standards, a warning is issued to inform the public and prevent potential health risks associated with swimming and other water activities.

Bacterial pollution can significantly harm marine life as well, potentially causing disease and death in marine mammals and other creatures. In worst-case circumstances, such contamination can lead to harmful algal blooms, ocean acidification, or hypoxia (oxygen-deprived water), resulting in mass die-offs of fish, shellfish, corals, and aquatic plants.

What Are the Underlying Causes?

There are two main sources that combine to cause bacterial pollution of coastal waters – urban runoff and sewage spills.

Urban Runoff

Urban runoff refers to the toxic soup that runs off of our roads, homes, commercial and industrial facilities. In most instances, this waste is carried through the storm drain system or through inland rivers and creeks and discharged into the ocean without any treatment.

Even on dry days, urban runoff can carry all types of contaminants to our coastal waters, including pet and human waste and other pathogens. Because urban runoff is so prevalent, it is the leading cause of beach advisories. As you may guess, rainfall exacerbates runoff pollution, which is why there is a 72-hour general advisory in effect at local beaches after a storm.

*Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant near El Segundo. Photo by Brittany Murray.*

Sewage Spills

Sewage spills are the other major contributor to LA’s ocean bacteria pollution problem. Because the concentration of bacteria and pathogens in raw sewage poses such a significant public health threat, beaches are closed after a known spill, such as the July 20 spill that closed parts of Venice Beach and Dockweiler State Beach, rather than just receiving the standard water quality advisory.

More Frequent Catastrophic Spills

LA’s sewage agencies, for their size, actually perform fairly well in terms of number of spills compared to other wastewater agencies in California. The sheer size of our metropolitan area, however, means we do frequently encounter spills that impact the health of our waterways. More disturbingly, we have seen a growing number of more catastrophic spills in recent years.

In the last five years alone, 1,290 sewage leaks have occurred in LA County, releasing more than 22 million gallons of sewage – the equivalent of 37 Olympic-size pools – with the largest being the 8.5 million gallon spill by the LA County Sanitation District in December 2021. And, this total does not include spills directly from water treatment facilities, which are reported separately, such as the July 2021 spill at the Hyperion Water Reclamation plant that discharged 12.5 million gallons of raw sewage into the ocean.

*Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant near El Segundo. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles.*

Aging Infrastructure

Part of the reason for the recent increases in spills, particularly large spills, is that LA’s sewage infrastructure is aging. As Heal the Bay detailed in their recent piece, “The Raw Truth: The Real Deal About Sewage Spills,” about one-third of the city’s pipelines are over 90 years old. While sewer pipes are typically designed to last between 50 and 100 years, much of Los Angeles’ infrastructure was installed before 1950. Consequently, a significant portion is nearing – or beyond – the end of its operational lifespan.

Other Contributing Factors

While urban runoff, aging sewage infrastructure, and the resulting sewage spills are the primary factors behind beach advisories and closures, there are many other contributing factors as well. These range from more people living aboard boats and not properly disposing of sewage waste, to other aging infrastructure like drinking water mains that can break and then compromise wastewater systems, to the shifting ground in Palos Verdes that is wreaking havoc on water systems there.

The final toxic cherry on top of this contaminant sundae is the nearly 450 million gallons of treated wastewater discharged from our treatment plants into the ocean every day. While these plants do successfully treat over 99% of bacteria pollution, the sheer volume of nutrients (i.e., organic matter) they release can mix with other contaminants. This increases bacterial growth in a process called eutrophication, further exacerbating threats to marine life and public health. Recent studies have shown that nutrient loading from large wastewater treatment plants in particular significantly contributes to ocean acidification off the Southern California coast.

How Climate Change Plays a Role

If all of the above concerns weren’t quite enough, climate change also plays a part by creating warmer water conditions that promote additional bacterial growth. When combined with the discharge of treated wastewater, untreated sewage spills, and urban runoff, Angelenos can expect more frequent beach advisories and closures, along with increased stress on our marine ecosystems, as the climate crisis worsens.

However, by taking urgent, concrete steps now, we can work to mitigate these trends and safeguard our beaches and marine life.

What Can Be Done?

Addressing these overlapping and multifaceted issues requires a proactive, comprehensive approach—there is no one single solution. That said, LA Waterkeeper, local water agencies, and our nonprofit partners are actively working to tackle these many challenges.

Improving Testing

First, LA Waterkeeper is working with our nonprofit partners and local research institutions to gather as much information as we can about the scope and sources of these problems and ensure such information is made available to the public. Our Marine Programs Director, Dr. Michael Quill, regularly tests ocean water at a range of locations.

Due to current testing limitations, there is often a lag between when ocean waters become unsafe due to bacterial spills or runoff and when beachgoers are informed. To reduce this lag, Dr. Quill is partnering with organizations like the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) to improve human fecal marker bacterial testing for faster results. Additionally, we continuously advocate for DPH and other agencies to test our waters more frequently and adopt rapid alert systems to keep Angelenos informed in real time.

Of course, monitoring and assessment alone don’t get to the root of the problem. To reduce the frequency of ocean advisories and beach closures, we must also reduce the amount of bacteria and nutrients entering our waterways.

Individual Action

Some of this can and must be done by individual action—picking up pet waste to prevent it from entering storm drains, watching what you flush to avoid clogs and spills, not overwatering lawns to stop herbicides, pesticides, and other contaminants from washing into storm drains. Or, better yet, eliminating the need for harmful garden chemicals entirely by transforming your lawn into a native plant rain garden.

Modernizing Our Water Infrastructure

Even if everyone in the County took these important steps, however, more systemic solutions are still needed. We must also significantly increase investments in multi-benefit stormwater projects and our wastewater system. This involves replacing aging infrastructure and converting our treatment facilities into state-of-the-art water purification plants that will enable us to reuse wastewater. Fortunately, many such efforts are already underway.

The Safe Clean Water Program (SCWP), a $280 million per year stormwater funding measure passed by LA County voters in 2018, has already provided more than $1 billion to support 133 stormwater projects. These projects collect and treat urban runoff pollution, reducing contamination of our inland and coastal waters while helping recharge our groundwater basins.

Meanwhile, LA Sanitation will soon be approaching the City Council to propose sewage rate increases, which must then be affirmed by residents, to address our aging system. While rate increases are never popular—especially in our current economic climate—they are necessary to fix our growing sewage spill problem before it gets worse.

Without these rate increases, we risk more frequent and severe sewage spills, leading to greater environmental damage, health hazards, and costly emergency repairs. Investing in our wastewater infrastructure now can prevent these issues and save money in the long run, improving efficiency and reducing pollution.

At the same time, our water and wastewater agencies are planning ahead with wastewater reclamation facilities, including Pure Water Southern California, Pure Water Los Angeles, and Pure Water Las Virgenes-Triunfo. These initiatives aim to significantly reduce wastewater discharges into our oceans while providing nearly 25% of the county’s water needs through purified wastewater.

At the Ballot Box

Finally, you can help support these investments by voting this November. With such large infrastructure needs, local investment must be augmented with state and federal dollars. A yes vote for California’s Climate Bond, or Proposition 4, will provide critically needed state funding for wastewater recycling, stormwater capture, and ocean resiliency, among other initiatives to address and mitigate climate change.

Conclusion

We cannot allow perpetually contaminated beaches to become the new normal. To safeguard the health of our communities and marine ecosystems, we must take immediate and decisive action against the contaminants polluting our waterways. In the age of climate crisis, the public should not have to risk swimming in toxic waters just to find relief from the heat. And delayed ocean quality warnings are not enough. We need bold, systemic changes now.

By advocating for better ocean water monitoring, pushing for updated infrastructure, and supporting climate action, we can collectively keep our ocean safe, accessible, and enjoyable for everyone. And LA Waterkeeper will continue to be there with you, holding our officials accountable and making sure our investments result in the best outcomes for our waterways, our communities, and our future.

Environmental JusticeIndustrial and Stormwater PollutionSewage SpillsHuman HealthNature & WildlifeOceansLaws & PoliciesWater Infrastructure

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