Sulfur-like odors are being reported across the Southern California from the Inland Empire to Southwest Riverside County to L.A. County this morning.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District sent out an advisory Monday morning saying it has received more than 100 calls about the smell and has people in the field investigating.
The district's alert says investigators do not know the cause of the smell, but noted that possibilities include "Fish kills, algae blooms and other biologic conditions" as well as "industrial facilities such as wastewater plants."
The odor has also been reported in the Coachella Valley, where last week the AQMD said it had deployed field inspectors in response to complaints from residents. Although a strong scent from the Salton Sea is commonly experienced in the fall and winter months, the district has not yet publicly confirmed the smell is coming from that area. Today the AQMD is closed.
The Salton Sea’s odor this time of year can be caused by high salinity in the water, high evaporation rate, lack of sea outlet, inflow of untreated water from Mexico through the New River and algae decomposition after a “planktonic boom.”
