Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Mission Viejo - still smells!

Well, it still stinks in Mission Viejo and in a 3-5 mile radius around the Upper Oso Reservoir. The City of Mission Viejo says they have stopped the common area sprinklers that are fed from the Reservoir, which seems to have eased a little bit of the Stench, but it's still wafting heavily in the evenings and mornings.

KTLA was out Tuesday night covering the story and stopped by to interview a few locals, including myself:
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=a38197e5-23a8-4982-bab5-67e512d78ec3&src=front

I recognize that action is bein gtaken, but there are still soe questiosn left unanswered. Namely, how can SMWD continue to insist the fumes are "not harmful" to humans when they have not yet publiclly identified what the gas creating the Stench is. They've taken readings and determined - SOMEHOW - that there's no presence of hydrogen sulfide coming from the Reservoir. Funny, b/c there's definitely a strong sulfur component to the Stench.

Seems odd to tell people the gas is "harmless' when you haven't been able to positively identify what the gas is, right?

10 comments:

J said...

Sam,
Thanks for all your attention to this problem. If not for people like you no problems would ever be resolved. Am I the only one who finds it ridiculous that every few day we hear that the Santa Margarita Water District is saying that it will all be resolved "in a few days"? What day are we on now?

J said...

Oh...and I now, after reading other posts, understand the inside joke on your name:)

finky the kid said...

J,

I know what you mean. I do believe the SMWD is trying to resolve this issue, but what they AREN'T telling us is rather mysterious and I don't know if it's intentional or just disorganization on their end.

In the meantime, IT STILL STINKS! I understand how they say there's nothing in the air they can detect, but our noses can certainly detect it. The sad thing is I think with closer supervision or a better monitoring plan, this whole thing could have been avoided. The reservoir didn't get like that overnight. In a short time, yes, but there's no reason someone shouldn't have noticed what was happening before it got to this point.

I just hope they've learned from it.

Anonymous said...

What about calling our Rep Gary Miller.

Congressman Miller’s Brea office at (714) 257-1142

Anonymous said...

Did they start watering again tonight? 3 nights no smell the tonight whammo it's back!!!

Anonymous said...

yeah, it stunk again last night and early this morning.

J said...

It's now Monday, November 9th, and this morning I woke to a rancid smell once again. For the first time during these past couple of weeks I have a strange sore throat.

Anonymous said...

I am 8 & 1/2 Months Pregnant and Last night the smell became so bad again that I was extremely nautious awoke to a terrible headache and burning throat. The smell was better for several days then Saturday it came back and Sunday it was as bad as ever. It has now been over 2 weeks living with this nightmare (if you have ever lived with a pregnant person you know how much stronger our sense of smell is!) with no real end in sight.

Can't they drain the water or pump it out to a water treatment plant and start over? All the fish are already dead so I really don't understand why they feel the need to wait any longer?

Anonymous said...

Pinecrest has had ENOUGH! After many individual efforts to get answers and put pressure on SMWD, we have decided to move on City Hall as a group.

We have all been told by various members of agencies that "they are working on getting it fixed," but the stench has grown exponentially the past 2 nights. Perhaps their efforts are misguided and/or misdirected? No matter, WE ARE SUFFERING.

Our hope is to assemble the largest group possible on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12th at 4pm, to let City Council and the Mayor of MV know just how angry and frustrated we all are. Pressure directly from the contracting city just might get SMWD's attention.

Please join us -- large numbers get attention!

J said...

I like this idea...they need to know that we won't stop making noise until this problem is solved and that we can influence the vote on who runs this city and our water district.