MURRIETA -- An accumulation of grease and other debris in an underground line led to a 51,000-gallon sewage spill that began Tuesday on Monroe Avenue, northwest of the Calvary Chapel Christian School, a county health department official said.

The spill from a manhole in the 24000 block of Monroe Avenue began at 4:30 p.m. and was stopped at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, officials said.

Work crews were able to clean up about 1,900 gallons of the untreated sewage.

The majority of the effluent spilled into a nearby dry creek bed that is a tributary of Murrieta Creek, said public health engineer Charles Strey.

"It percolated into the dry creek bed there," Strey said. "None of it reached Murrieta Creek."