A sewage spill into San Marcos Creek is forcing swimmers and beachgoers at Carlsbad State Beach to take notice.
Workers at the Meadowlark Water Reclamation Facility in San Marcos noticed a six-inch sewage pipe had broken around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday night, spilling sewage into the creek, according to officials from the Vallecitos Water District.
The San Marcos Creek flows from San Marcos and into the Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad, which outfalls into the ocean.
County workers have posted contamination signs on either side of the Batiquitos outfall, until tests show the water is safe, the district said.
It was only a few weeks ago, that the same Carlsbad beach was posted with signs warning of contamination. On Tuesday, Oct. 21, officials warned that somewhere between 500 to 60,000 gallons of raw sewage had leaked into the same lagoon, this time from the Leucadia Wastewater District.
Another spill on Oct. 8, sent 5,000 gallons of sewage into streets near the Carlsbad wastewater plant, which is not far from Palomar Airport Road. Later that night, workers installed temporary bypass lines, which rerouted sewage from manholes in the street into the plant. A collapsed trunk line was later blamed for that spill.
