SAN YSIDRO, Calif. (KGTV) - The faint smell of rotten eggs lingers in the air in San Ysidro. It's a stench South Bay residents like William Virchis have been dealing with for years.
"It’s not getting better it’s getting worse as the climate changes, the air changes," Virchis said.
For decades, people have been complaining about the putrid smell of sewage spilling into the Tijuana River Valley. Now, there's a new effort to determine exactly what people are breathing.
"Everything in the water affects the air. The air affects the water. We are right across from the border. There’s no wall for pollution, no wall for air quality," said Virchis.
Kevin Bradley is a senior chemist with the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District. He's examining the data trickling in from an odor sensor installed last week at the San Ysidro Fire Station.
The sensors monitor chemicals in the air like Hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide. The threshold set by OSHA is 10 parts per billion; so far, testing on average in San Ysidro is showing 12 parts per billion.
"Because we’ve received a lot of complaints specifically about odor and sewage and wastewater type odors, we're not really surprised to see those levels," said Bradley.
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Bradley says the levels are not high enough to cause serious respiratory issues, but headaches and nausea are possible. The impact of chronic, long-term exposure is unclear.
"From a health standpoint, long-term, ongoing quality of life reduction from persistent odors like this," said Bradley.
The data collected will be used to try to determine what other factors might influence the odor.
"We want to understand how wind, weather plays into things like this we also want to understand how location plays into it some days, odor might be worse in San Ysidro sometimes Imperial Beach," said Bradley.
Virchis said any information is helpful.
"It’s like a heat warning — do we stay home? What do we do — what’s the air quality in the rooms? As you can see, there’s hardly any air conditioners, so windows are open," he said.
Ultimately, five more of the sensors will be installed at locations in the South Bay, including Imperial Beach City Hall.
