Rotten egg smell in Calif

Monday morning in southern California was rather pungent, as a large number of residents realized that they could smell a terrible sulfurous smell that was reminiscent of rotten eggs.

As soon as people realized that there was no mistaking it, the next question immediately became where the smell could have possibly come from.

Others have suggested that the Salton Sea could be the source of the sulfurous smell. However air quality investigators stopped short of declaring with certainty that the saltwater lake 150 miles southeast of Los Angeles was the cause.

While officials have still not been able to definitively identify where the smell is coming from, some scientists have identified it as the usual smell of decomposing fish as it is pulled to the surface.

Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said in a statement late Monday that “there is not yet any definitive evidence to pinpoint the Salton Sea or any other source yet.”

“The problem is [the odor] would have to have migrated 50 to 100 miles, without it being dissipated by mixing with other air. It doesn’t seem possible,” said Andrew Schlange, general manager of the Salton Sea Authority. “I’ve been in Southern California my whole life, and I’m not aware of any time in the past where the odor from the Salton Sea has migrated as far as people are telling us.”

Officials are saying that the evidence they currently have points to the smell originating in the Salton Sea, which many people doubt, since the sea is 150 miles away from where many people have been encountering the smell.

Whatever the source of the smell, though, there is no doubt that people in southern California might want to go buy some air freshener.