All Los Angeles County beaches placed under high bacteria warning due to rainwater runoff
More than 100 beaches in Los Angeles County are being placed under a high bacteria warning due to rainwater runoff.
Officials said the warning was placed on beaches because high concentrations of E. coli were measured in the water.
“It is important to note that in addition to the high levels of E. coli found at L.A. County’s beaches, the water at some of these beaches was not filtered, making it more susceptible to the growth of bacteria that can cause illness,” Los Angeles County Water Agency spokesman Mike Parker said in a statement.
He said the L.A. County Department of Public Utilities was in the process of cleaning the city’s beaches, while the county and city were investigating further options to control the algae outbreak.
“The results of the analysis that we are now processing is that the condition of the beaches has not changed,” said Parker.
Parker said the water that officials tested was still safe to swim in, but stressed that there were not yet any definitive conclusions.
“The water is not completely safe, as we do not know whether or not the bacteria is gone,” Parker said. “There is a risk of infection to people swimming in water, so it’s important we know where and how quickly those bacteria are propagating.”
The health department and water agency were working to identify a source for the contamination and make a plan to fix the problem as the bacteria cannot be treated by any treatment and will die if exposed to sunlight, water, and air.
L.A. County public health officials said they were aware of the recent E. coli outbreak at several Los Angeles County beaches, which was believed to be caused by water samples taken from the contaminated South Bay Wastewater treatment plant located at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
“We have not released any information as to what type of bacteria were present in the water samples we had tested from this particular plant,” public health officials said. “However, we understand that several water samples from the UCLA plant have