The Press Interprise http://www.PE.com




BY DAVID DANELSKI and JOHN ASBURY




STAFF WRITERS


ddanelski@pe.com
jasbury@pe.com


Published: 10 September 2012 09:39 AM






The Salton Sea is shaping up as the leading suspect responsible for
strong sulfur-like odors that spread some 150 miles from the Southern
California desert to Los Angeles County, on Monday, Sept. 10.The
South Coast Air Quality Management District received hundreds of
complaints from as far east as Palms Springs to as far west as the San
Fernando Valley. Many described the stench as something akin to rotten
eggs.“The Salton Sea is high up on the list of possible sources,” said air district spokesman Sam Atwood.

Air
district officials on Monday were still taking and analyzing air
samples from the sea area. They also were taking samples in Riverside,
Perris, Banning Temecula and Palm Springs, Atwood said.The odors
were extraordinary but were not found to cause immediate health
problems, Atwood said. The air district did not issue a health warning
as it would during a severe smog episode.Atwood did say, however,
that anyone who felt ill from the stench should stay inside, shut their
doors and windows, and run their air conditioner, which filters the
air.The air quality was particularly bad in the Riverside area,
where the sulfur odor combined with smoke from a wildfire in the Santa
Ana River bed.“People in smoky areas should definitely stay inside,” Atwood said.

The sulfur odor hit huge swaths of Southern California.

“It
is just noxious,” said Woodcrest resident Lisa Rosser, who lives near
King High School. “My concern is whether the kids should be outside or
not.”The Salton Salt is suspected because it is known for such odors.

In
addition, unusual monsoon storms blew air from the sea area across
Coachella Valley and west into the valleys of Inland Southern
California, Atwood saidRichard Minnich, chairman of UC
Riverside’s Earth Sciences Department, said fish and plants are dying
off in the Salton Sea as its water becomes more and more salty.These
materials rot in the sea’s low-oxygen environs, which produces hydrogen
sulfide, a compound made of sulfur and hydrogen that has a sulfur odor.Sunday
night thunderstorms produced westbound gusts that were as high as 50
miles per hour in the White Water area. That brought in air from over
from the sea into Inland Southern California. Normally, the prevailing
winds blow in the opposite direction.Minnich added the
thunderstorms that occurred over the Hemet area could have also brought
in odors from dairies. The dairies along the Ramona Expressway could
have added ammonia gases to the mix as the wind went west.Industrial facilities such as wastewater plants also can cause sulfur odors, Atwood said.

Cal Fire officials, however, believe the source was the Salton Sea.

The
monsoonal moisture trapped the odor amid high humidity and warm
temperatures, spanning from the Coachella Valley to north of Los
Angeles.“It’s deceiving what the Salton Sea can do,” Cal Fire
Battalion Chief Julie Hutchinson said. “We don’t have the prevailing
winds in this area and the stuff just isn’t able to settle. Because it’s
everywhere, we don’t think it’s multiple sources, the smell is being
pulled off of the clouds.”The Salton Sea has been a source of strong odors in the past.

In the late summer of 2001, storms blew hot, dusty winds along with a powerful stink.

Authorities said later it probably came from a combination of intense heat, rotting vegetation and dead fish in the Salton Sea.

A Moreno Valley woman said at the time that the smell was overpowering.

“It smelled like rotten eggs, like sulfur. . . . It about gagged you when you walked out the door,” said Pam Clutts.

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The activity below does happen once a blue moon. The earthquakes happened a day before the massive stench. It does happen once in a while, but is this a coincidence? I believe it is what is stirring under the lake that caused the bad odor. Volcanic activity? Is the government trying to keep the calm or am I making a big "stink"(pun intended) about it? BTW, Bombay Beach, CA is a semi forsaken city on the shore of the Salton Sea.


SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE DATA CENTER


map 1.9 2012/09/10 09:46:41 33.285N 115.718W 3.2 7 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.6 2012/09/10 09:42:34 33.280N 115.716W 2.9 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.2 2012/09/10 09:22:16 33.283N 115.711W 3.3 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.0 2012/09/10 09:12:04 33.282N 115.717W 3.4 8 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.2 2012/09/10 09:04:20 33.291N 115.701W 7.6 7 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.6 2012/09/10 09:04:03 33.281N 115.718W 2.3 8 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.0 2012/09/10 09:01:50 33.280N 115.716W 3.4 8 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.7 2012/09/10 08:59:15 33.290N 115.708W 3.3 7 km ( 4 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.4 2012/09/10 08:57:00 33.280N 115.717W 3.0 8 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.0 2012/09/10 08:55:54 33.282N 115.717W 3.1 8 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.5 2012/09/10 08:55:12 33.286N 115.712W 3.1 7 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.5 2012/09/10 08:54:52 33.281N 115.713W 2.5 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.8 2012/09/10 08:52:14 33.279N 115.719W 2.2 8 km ( 5 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.3 2012/09/10 08:51:57 33.286N 115.720W 1.6 7 km ( 4 mi) S of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.3 2012/09/10 08:51:28 33.284N 115.705W 3.0 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.6 2012/09/10 08:46:02 33.289N 115.706W 3.5 7 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 2.6 2012/09/10 08:45:48 33.282N 115.714W 2.8 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
MAP 3.3 2012/09/10 08:44:42 33.280N 115.713W 3.4 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.3 2012/09/10 08:27:50 38.809N 122.794W 3.0 2 km ( 1 mi) NE of The Geysers, CA
map 1.8 2012/09/10 08:26:24 33.286N 115.709W 3.6 7 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.0 2012/09/10 08:09:54 33.280N 115.716W 2.5 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.0 2012/09/10 08:09:32 33.282N 115.710W 2.3 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.1 2012/09/10 08:09:05 33.284N 115.715W 2.3 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
map 1.5 2012/09/10 07:52:59 33.282N 115.714W 2.7 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Bombay Beach, CA