Inland Funk: 'Several Factors Indicate Salton Sea May Have Been the Source'

The foul odor of rotten eggs or sulfur noticed in Redlands, Loma Linda, Mentone and from the San Gorgonio Pass to the San Fernando Valley on Monday may have come from the Salton Sea.

But there was no "definitive evidence," South Coast Air Quality Management District officials said Monday evening.

The district was continuing to investigate the source of the odor, officials said in a statement issued at 7 p.m. Sept. 10.

"Several factors indicate that the Salton Sea may have been the source of these odors," Barry Wallerstein, executive officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said in the statement. "However we do not have any definitive evidence to pinpoint the Salton Sea or any other source yet."

in the Redlands-Loma Linda area noticed the smell beginning Sunday evening. Redlands Fire officials said the source could be the Salton Sea.

The district sent field inspectors Monday to the San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Colton, San Bernardino, Riverside, Perris, Temecula, Banning, Palm Springs, La Quinta and the Salton Sea in an attempt to locate the source of the odor, according to the statement.

"Several sources have reported hot weather and a possible release of bacteria from the bottom of the sea due to winds there," district officials said. "Those conditions could cause strong sulfur odors.

"In addition, strong thunderstorm activity in the Salton Sea area and resulting high winds from the southeast could have pushed odors into the Los Angeles basin," district officials said.

However, it is highly unusual for odors to remain strong up to 150 miles from their source, Wallerstein said.

District scientists planned to collect air samples Monday evening in several locations throughout the Coachella Valley and at the Salton Sea. An analysis of those samples may provide further evidence of a possible source.

"Since midnight last night, AQMD has received about 200 complaints of sulfur- and rotten-egg odors," district officials said. "Most callers were from the Coachella Valley and other portions of Riverside County as well as San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. Only a few calls came from Orange County."

A strengthening onshore breeze tomorrow may keep any additional odors from spreading as far west as they did today, district officials said.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

More information about foul odors from the Salton Sea can be found at www.aqmd.gov/complain/saltonseaodor.

The Salton Sea, created by a man-made Colorado River flood in 1905, is fed by the Whitewater River and other desert washes. Lack of outflow and agricultural runoff have helped make the Salton Sea saltier than the Pacific Ocean.

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