Neighbors fume over horrendous stench from LA hospital giant: ‘Sewage, like a toilet’

Marina del Rey residents say they’ve been living with a foul, sewage-like odor for weeks and they believe a major hospital construction project is to blame.

The stomach-churning smell has been wafting through the coastal neighborhood for roughly six weeks, according to residents, with some claiming the stench has become so overpowering that it has made them nauseous and forced them to flee the area.

“It smells like sewage; it’s not table water,” nearby resident Laura Clementi told Fox 11.

Another neighbor, David Levy, compared the smell to an outhouse that had been left to rot.

“Like going into an outhouse that’s really bad, that’s been there for a year. It’s horrible,” he said.

The stink has become so relentless that residents created a group chat dedicated to tracking down its source. Neighbors eventually zeroed in on construction underway at nearby Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital.

“Even with my windows closed and the AC going, I wake up to the smell,” Clementi said. “I wake up at 5 a.m. with this sewage smell. It’s making me nauseous.”

Craig Lightner, who keeps a boat in the marina, said the odor has been particularly brutal in recent weeks. He also captured video appearing to show murky water bubbling up near the marina.

“Sewage, like a toilet,” Lightner told CBS. “The whole marina turned white.”

Lightner said he has experienced headaches, nausea, dizziness and difficulty concentrating that he believes may be connected to the smell. He also expressed concern about what the murky water could be doing to marine life.

“There’s barnacles. If you look closely over there, it’s all dead,” he said.

So what exactly is causing the stink? Cedars-Sinai has acknowledged that its construction work is connected to the odor.

The hospital is excavating an area on the southwest side of its campus to install an emergency sewer holding tank. The project is required under state law and is intended to help the hospital continue operating during a major earthquake or other natural disaster.

During excavation, groundwater has periodically entered the construction area. Cedars-Sinai says that water is treated before being discharged into storm drains, but the hospital says an odor can develop when the treated water mixes with storm-drain runoff.

Video from the area appeared to show water accumulating in the excavation site, while resident cellphone footage appeared to capture runoff entering the marina.

The hospital told CBS it has since paused excavation work “out of an abundance of caution” while it works with the Los Angeles Sanitation Bureau to address the problem.

Cedars-Sinai apologized for the disruption and said it is prioritizing the safety of the surrounding community and staying in contact with residents.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) also confirmed to Fox11 that it is aware of the complaints and it’s an active investigation.

Lightner said temporarily shutting off the water flow appeared to make an immediate change.

“They turned the water flow off while they were here and it’s definitely made a difference since they’ve turned it off,” he said.

For residents who say they’ve endured weeks of the foul smell, however, the solution can’t come soon enough.