A mile of Southern California shoreline that was closed amid fears involving a sewage spill 20 miles away was reopened Thursday after two consecutive bacteria tests came back clean.
However, officials said a longer stretch of neighboring shoreline remained closed in Long Beach.
Ocean water samples taken along Seal Beach on Tuesday and Wednesday showed no excessive levels of bacteria and the stretch was reopened.
But in neighboring Long Beach, four miles of shoreline remained closed after a sample taken Wednesday showed elevated bacteria levels, said Nelson Kerr of the city's health department.
The first sample taken Tuesday, a day after the spill, showed no excessive levels of bacteria. Officials require two consecutive clean tests.
A buried pipe near downtown Los Angeles collapsed Monday, causing a blockage and spill of 2.4 million gallons of raw sewage onto streets and into storm drains that feed into the river.
Crews managed to contain, divert or vacuum at least 750,000 gallons and the rest reached the river that flows to the coast.
The sewage leak was initially capped Monday night, but another rupture occurred during repairs. It was finally stopped Tuesday, said Adel Hagekhalil, assistant director of Los Angeles Sanitation.
The 1929 concrete, tiled-lined pipe that broke was 18 feet underground, Hagekhalil said.
The cause of the collapse wasn't clear.
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