Neighbors Contend Sludge Facility Odor Getting Worse

Residents downwind of the nation’s largest open-air sludge processing facility, near Corona, say noxious odors are being emitted more often since the company struck a deal with Riverside County that eliminated strict monitoring.

The Synagro Technologies, Inc., facility, on Interstate 15, has drawn thousands of complaints in recent years, particularly from the California Meadows and Wild Rose communities downwind and across the freeway.

Last Tuesday, the Riverside County odor hotline received 58 calls in four hours about Synagro -- believed to be the highest number of complaints ever in a single day, according to county environmental health specialist Alice Beasley.

“We were overcome with a horrific stench,” said Bill Dalgleish, who said he was sitting in his California Meadows living room Tuesday when the odor hit.

“My eyes started watering, and I was just gagging.”

Gena Osborne, who lives a few blocks away in the same development and has battled for years to have the facility closed, said that as soon as the odor hit that night, she knew “it’s Synagro again.”

Lorrie Loder, regional community relations manager for Synagro, said shifts in the weather might be responsible for the odors and the ensuing calls.

So far this year, the number of calls has been higher every month than the same month in previous years, according to county health department records. May is on track to be another record-setter. Loder said she had not seen the numbers and could not comment.

County Supervisor Bob Buster, who represents the area, said it might be necessary to go back to a full-scale odor monitoring system, which was eliminated after a lawsuit between the county and the facility was settled In February.

The company agreed to pay $225,000 a year to the county and leave the site in 2008, two years early.”They may have earned themselves a return to ... monitoring,” said Buster, who said he planned to send his own staff and county environmental health specialists to meet with facility managers this week).

“We want to offer them a chance first to explain what happened.”

Loder said the county has the right to resume around-the-clock monitoring in July.

County health specialist Beasley said that winds blowing to the southwest from the facility over the homes could be a problem but that rotating the large piles of material on site could also cause problems.

“We have to do those turns,” said Loder. “You have to turn it; you have to fluff up the windrows to give them oxygen.”

Loder said the facility, which receives partially treated waste from sewage treatment plants around the Southland and sells it as treated gardening or farming compost, “provides a recycling service to over 750,000 people .... It creates a very useful product on the back end.”

Synagro sued the county in 1999 after health officials notified the company that it had violated the terms of its use permit so often that it would have to leave several years early. Synagro wanted to stay until 2010.

Dalgleish said he believed the smell had become worse and evident more frequently since the settlement. Before the agreement, the company could have been required to cut by half the amount it was processing if there were odor complaints. Under the settlement, it can keep bringing in up to 500 tons a day of partially treated sewage even if there are complaints.

Loder said offers made by Synagro to enclose the facility or upgrade technology had been rebuffed by county officials.

“We strive every day to make sure that we are operating per our permits,” Loder said. “We try very hard not to have any impact on the community. We really do care.”