San Diego County has reopened a popular dog beach after a massive sewage spill.
At around 5 a.m. Wednesday, a broken valve at a pump station caused sewage to leak out of one of the maintenance holes where the San Diego River meets Ocean Beach’s Dog Beach, San Diego County spokesperson Donna Durckel told SFGATE. The city reported the spill to the county, which closed the beach.
Of the estimated 18,000 gallons of leaked sewage, 9,000 gallons reached the San Diego River, city spokesperson Jennifer McBride told SFGATE. The cause of the valve break is still under investigation.
“The city crews were out there for all day on Wednesday and then most of the day Thursday cleaning up,” McBride said. “One of the lanes of the road was closed at the time, and that’s been back open.”
An ongoing sewage crisis along the San Diego-Tijuana border at Imperial Beach has led to chronic health conditions among the community, and it is so persistent that studies have shown it can be seen from space. Sewage spills can have disastrous consequences on both the environment and public health.
The viruses, bacteria and parasites in sewage are known to cause “gastrointestinal symptoms, rashes, flu-like symptoms, skin and eye infections and worse,” according to the Surfrider Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting beaches and oceans worldwide.
“Sewage discharges also pollute waterways with excess nutrients that wreak havoc on coastal ecosystems by fueling harmful algal blooms that put human health at risk, cause fish kills and smother coral reefs,” the organization said on its website.
San Diego County uses video cameras to monitor its sewer pipes and conducts daily pipe cleaning and maintenance hole checks. They also use overflow sensors to monitor sewage flow.
Sewage spills reached an all-time high — 365 spills — in 2000. Since then, the city has invested in “necessary sewer system upgrades.” That city averaged only about 50 spills per year in 2023 and 2024.