New information on a South Coast sewage spill this week shows it was much larger than first thought, but that the flow was stopped before it could reach a popular beach.
The spill occurred Tuesday morning in the Goleta area, and was initially estimated at about a thousand gallons. Goleta Sanitary District officials say a partially plugged sewer line sent raw sewage through a manhole near a bike path at Nogal and Nueces Drives, and into a creek bed.
Because the creek empties into the ocean at Goleta Beach, a section of the beach was closed as a precaution. After tests show the ocean water was clean, the beach reopened Thursday.
But, Sanitary District officials say crews stopped the flow before it could spread from the immediate area of the spill, and pumped the approximately 2500 gallons of sewage back into the sewer system. The cleanup was completed Tuesday afternoon.
