Tainted Water From Lagoon Closes Beach

Water flowing from Malibu Lagoon has wreaked havoc with the sewage system at the exclusive Malibu Colony and has forced the closure of Surfrider Beach through the weekend, authorities said Friday.

“Our message to surfers and beach-goers is, ‘Don’t go to Surfrider this weekend,’ ” said Russ Guiney, the Malibu sector superintendent for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, which oversees the lagoon.

Guiney said dry weather curtailed the normal momentum of water out of the lagoon, preventing it from breaking through the sandbar and flowing into the ocean. The backup, he said, had caused flooding from the lagoon into nearby properties.

Among other things, he said, the water backed up into yards in the Malibu Colony and saturated the ground under the Cross Creek Shopping Center. The flooding at the shopping center was so thorough, he said, that on Thursday a septic tank overflowed and sewer water bubbled up from under the asphalt and flowed into the nearby creek.

Guiney said crews were forced to cut a trench into the lagoon’s sand berm to release the backup, but the water was so polluted by flooding from septic tanks that the beach had to be closed.