FOUNTAIN VALLEY It steals in on the evening breeze. And residents near Mile Square Park have had more than enough.
For the past couple of weeks, a stench of sulfur and rotten eggs has been drifting through the area, apparently from algae growing in a pond at the Mile Square Golf Course, officials said.
Resident Patrice Mino, who has lived on Silktree Street in Fountain Valley off and on since shortly after the golf course opened in 1969, said she had never experienced the odors of recent weeks.
“We can’t leave our windows open,” she said. “It permeates our car. We’ve put rugs down to cover vents and doors.”
That in turn has led residents in the neighborhood directly west of the park to raise a stink at City Hall.
“Almost every agency known to man has been out to the lake,” said Mayor Cheryl Brothers, referring to the pond near the third and fourth holes that has been singled out as the culprit.
The management at the course has been as puzzled as anyone about the outbreak. Scott Chaffin, general manager at the course, said he has worked there 19 years and has never experienced an odor issue before.
Over the past two weeks, he said his company has tried a number of solutions.
On Friday, he said the decision had been made to simply empty the pond and refill it with fresh water, which will take several days.
“Unfortunately, we can’t wave a magic wand. Hopefully this will do it,” Chaffin said. “I know it’s an inconvenience. We’ve tried a number of things. We’re putting it into overdrive.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has received 67 complaints about the odor, said spokesman Sam Atwood.
“The pond started growing algae,” Atwood said. “It causes sulfur compounds to build that can have that rotten egg smell.”
“(The odor) can cause temporary symptoms of headaches, nausea and dizziness,” he said, adding there are no indications of long-term effects.
Although similar complaints have been received at reservoirs and places such as the Salton Sea, where the AQMD has permanent monitors, Atwood said this is the first time he has known of such problems at a golf course.
Brothers said she spoke with officials from Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District who said they could spray the area with algicide, but it would do more damage than good and kill the fish in the pond that feed on mosquito larvae.
Chaffin said a number of factors combined to cause the algae build-up. Those include vandals damaging the aeration system, which circulates water, the use of reclaimed water in the pond and the hot weather.
Before deciding to discharge the water, Chaffin said the company installed an ozone system and even used disinfectants provided by the Orange County Sanitation District.
Atwood said the complaints have not risen to a level where the agency has issued a citation, which requires about a half-dozen calls in a single time frame and verification from complainants. That can be difficult in cases like this because of the late-night nature of the problem, although Atwood said investigators can be dispatched overnight if needed.
Fliers have been posted in the hardest-hit neighborhoods with the phone number for the AQMD hotline.
“I’m pretty sure it will be a non-issue in a week,” Chaffin said. “But we’re hoping to solve it before then.”
However, he added, there is a chance that once the lake is empty, the smell could actually get worse for a short period before the fresh water flows in.
