Scratch the annual Polar Plunge at Cabrillo Beach off your list of potential New Year\u2019s Day amusements \u2014 the beach remains closed due to lingering effects from a recent sewage spill.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the wake of last week\u2019s storm and sewage spill, testing by the Department of Public Health shows that bacteria levels are still high in the waters off Cabrillo Beach and any contact with the ocean could cause you serious illness,\u201d L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beach will remain closed for at least the next few days, and I know that is a big disappointment to everyone who had been looking forward to this year\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day Polar Plunge. I may complain about the cold, but it is one of my favorite traditions, and I was ready for it this year (new swimsuit and all).<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as we all pride ourselves on braving the freezing water, this year it is just not safe to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Christmas Day, authorities issued an ocean water closure around Cabrillo Beach due to the release of approximately 100,000 gallons of sewage.<\/p>\n
The closure affects an area three-quarters of a mile upstream and downstream from the beach, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic Health officials are advising residents or visitors to avoid contact with ocean water and wet sand in the areas noted above. The release impacted the asphalt and flowed to the nearby beach, affecting both the sand and ocean water,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
Hahn said the discharge emanated from a manhole in Carson.<\/p>\n
Officials said they will continue to conduct water sampling, and that the closure will remain in effect until Public Health receives sampling results indicating that bacterial levels meet health standards.<\/p>\n
Recorded information on beach conditions is available 24 hours a day on the county\u2019s beach closure hotline at 1-800-525-5662.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scratch the annual Polar Plunge at Cabrillo Beach off your list of potential New Year\u2019s Day amusements \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[19303,131,133,132,25411,61631,1786,37209,688],"class_list":["post-115433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-canceled","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-plunge","tag-polar","tag-sewage","tag-spill","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}