Long Beach closes beaches after sewage spill of up to 4M gallons

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Beaches along the south Los Angeles County coast were closed Friday due to a spill untreated sewage, authorities said.

A sewer main line failed Thursday afternoon in the city of Carson and 2 million gallons to 4 million gallons (7.5-15 million liters) of sewage was discharged into the Dominguez Channel, a waterway that empties into Los Angeles Harbor, the city of Long Beach said in a statement.

The Dominguez Channel terminates into the Los Angeles Harbor at the Port of Los Angeles.

"The sewage spill occurred in the city of Carson and was caused due to failure of a 48-inch sewer main line," the Long Beach statement said.

A Long Beach Health Department inspection team was monitoring water quality along the city's affected beach sites, according to officials. Long Beach has approximately seven miles of public beach.

On Thursday, the sewage spill prompted the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to close several beaches within its jurisdiction:

Recorded information on beach conditions is available 24 hours a day at (800) 525-5662 or publichealth.lacounty.gov/beach.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.