Cause of bacteria at Magnolia not known

Danette Goulet

A 2,000-foot stretch of Huntington State Beach remains closed this

week, while health care officials search for the cause of high bacteria

levels.

The Orange County Health Care Agency, Environmental Health, closed the

1,000 feet of beach to the north of Magnolia Street and 1,000 feet south after an unknown quantity of sewage, from an unknown source, polluted the

waters.

Testing has shown the sewer lines officials believed to be cracked and

leaking are in working order, said Monica Mazur, spokeswoman for the

Orange County Health Care Agency.

“They’ve completed testing at restrooms five and six and the lifeguard

headquarters and so far there are no leaks. They’re looking right now at

[restrooms] nine, 10 and 11 up the coast,” Mazur said.

Health care officials met with representatives from the Orange County

Sanitation District Wednesday to discuss possible causes stemming from

sanitation district sewer lines and the outfall pipe.

“We always suspected that this may not be the problem,” Mazur said of

the state beach restroom sewer lines. “There are two other things we will

look at -- [the Orange County Sanitation District] has an 84-inch trunk

sewer line and also we’re looking for offshore causes.”