Friday, a sewer main busted and caused a 3,000-gallon spill near the intersection of Ridge Route and Newport Coast Drive.
The broken main had been leaking about 200 gallons a minute, according to a spokesperson from Irvine Ranch Water District, the company that owns and maintains the line.
The leaky pipe was quickly bypassed, but some of the spilled sewage reached a storm drain in Buck Gulch and necessitated the closure of /*Little Corona Beach*/ by the /*Orange County*/ Health Care Agency's Environmental Health Division.
State law requires beaches to be closed if a sewage spill enters a storm drain and there is no measure to prevent the water from entering the ocean.
There is a 72-hour mandatory closure period, but it's ultimately up to the city to reopen the beach.
The cause of the rupture was not immediately known.
