San Diego County has reopened a popular dog beach after a massive sewage spill.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Dog Beach, San Diego County spokesperson Donna Durckel told SFGATE. The city reported the spill to the county, which closed the beach.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city crews were out there for all day on Wednesday and then most of the day Thursday cleaning up,\u201d McBride said. \u201cOne of the lanes of the road was closed at the time, and that’s been back open.\u201d<\/p>\n
An ongoing sewage crisis along the San Diego-Tijuana border<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n The viruses, bacteria and parasites in sewage are known to cause \u201cgastrointestinal symptoms, rashes, flu-like symptoms, skin and eye infections and worse,\u201d according to the Surfrider Foundation<\/a>, an organization dedicated to protecting beaches and oceans worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSewage 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,\u201d the organization said on its website.<\/p>\n