17 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage Ejected into California Oceans

According to CBS News, 17 million gallons of raw sewage was ejected into Santa Monica Bay after a power outage on Sunday. The discharge has led to Southern California beaches closing for the week. 

Hyperion Water Reclamation, the sewage plant responsible for the incident, explained that it “became inundated with overwhelming quantities of debris, causing backup of the headworks facilities.” Six percent of the plant’s “daily load” poured into the ocean that day; it lasted for eight hours.

Officials from the Hyperion Water Reclamation plant said the incident was not an accident, but rather “an emergency measure to prevent the plant from going completely offline and discharging much more raw sewage.”

Beaches will reopen once waters in surrounding areas are tested and shown to not have dangerous amounts of bacteria in them. Locals are strongly urged to not touch or come into contact with the ocean in that area until they are given notice.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn was unsatisfied with the plant’s statement and that the problems related to the spill were dealt with the following morning.

“What happened yesterday was unacceptable and dangerous. Not only did the Hyperion Plant release seventeen million gallons of sewage into our ocean — the public had little to no information about it for hours,” she said in a statement to CBS News, “We need answers from LA City Sanitation about what went wrong and led to this massive spill, but we also need to recognize that LA County Public Health did not effectively communicate with the public and could have put swimmers in danger.”

The health concerns regarding the spill are serious. The state director for Environment California is particularly worried about it making residents sick. Heal the Bay, a nonprofit organization, said that debris from these spills “harbor bacteria and can cause entanglement of wildlife,” which is “extremely dangerous to people and can carry a variety of diseases.”

Related Content:

• What?! Sewage Plants Tasked With Cleaning Water Are Spilling Plastic Microbeads Into the Oceans
• Amazing Rescuer Dives Into Sewage Tank to Save Drowning Puppy (VIDEO)

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that are raising awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your own food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!