4 Los Angeles County beaches remain under high bacteria warning, despite all levels of beach closures and advisories
Updated, 12:20 a.m., March 28:
With reports of sewage pollution in many of the nation’s most popular urban beaches, Los Angeles County beaches are still experiencing “high bacteria levels,” despite all-out closures of nearly half of all the county’s beaches that were due to reopen on Monday, March 27.
The county Department of Public Health (DPH) issued a Level 1 (“Red Flag”) warning for the beaches, which were among the first in the nation to implement the “Prevention of Enteric Pathogens on Sanctioned Sanitary Beaches” (PreSSB) order.
All beaches closed in the county on March 25 will reopen on Monday, March 27, according to DPH rules.
There remains a high and increasing level of bacteria in all L.A. County beaches, many of which have never seen a Level 1 warning in their six years of operation.
DPH also recommended that people with symptoms like diarrhea, stomachaches, upset stomach or vomiting immediately contact a health care provider.
The warning level applies to all beaches, including:
Laguna Beach
Long Beach
Pacific Palisades
South Bay
Santa Monica
Santa Barbara
West LA
The beaches are currently open under normal hours, as are all county beaches.
The San Gabriel River Estuary has bacteria levels comparable to the beaches, but it remains under “Level 3 (Emerging)” warning.
The beaches are open under normal hours.
California State Parks beaches remain open under normal hours, as well.
The beach has bacteria levels comparable to the county beaches, according to a study by the California Department of Public Health of 10 randomly selected beaches.
The beaches are open under normal hours.
While the PreSSB order was adopted by Los Angeles last March, not all beaches took it up immediately.
Some beaches closed on March 25, and reopen on April 1 and the