Briefly in the news

Residents may notice a red or a greenish-yellow tinge in the ocean

this week or in the coming weeks. But it’s nothing to worry about.

The Orange County Sanitation District plans to insert dye into sewer

lines to test for leaks from four bathrooms on Huntington State Beach

between Magnolia Avenue and Beach Boulevard.

“There was an indication that there are leaking lines they just don’t

know where they are ending up,� said Lisa Murphy, spokeswoman for the

sanitation district.

Although the dye is nontoxic and not harmful to people or marine life,

seeing the dye means there is a leak and sewage is making it to the

ocean, Murphy said.

The testing was conducted Tuesday, Wednesday and today but sanitation

district officials said they may not see result for a couple weeks.

The work is part of the ongoing $5.1-million investigation to

determine the cause of the high levels of bacteria in the ocean of the

shores of Huntington Beach that forced beach closures in the summer of

1999.