Sewage Spill Shuts Beaches Along California's Central Coast

MONTEREY (AP) -- Several beaches along California's Central Coast are closed after nearly five million gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean in Monterey County.

The county's Environmental Health Department says the massive spill was stopped by 4:30 a.m. Saturday at the Monterey One Water wastewater treatment facility. Officials didn't say when it started.

The Monterey Herald reports the cause was failure of a bar screen, part of the sewage filtering system.

At least eight beaches are closed in the area about 110 miles (160 km) south of San Francisco.

The newspaper was unable to contact Monterey One or state parks department officials for comment on Sunday.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.