Sulfur-like odors are being reported across Riverside County and the Inland Empire Monday morning.
Reports stretching from Rosetta Canyon in Lake Elsinore to the Pass area are coming in from readers. In the Pass area the smell has been reported in Cabazon, Beaumont, Banning and Calimesa.
The odor has also been reported in the Coachella Valley, where last week the South Coast Air Quality Management District 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 Air Quality Management 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.”
More information about foul odors from the Salton Sea can be found at www.aqmd.gov/complain/saltonseaodor.
