Overview
- Residents reported a recurring sewage-like smell in Marina del Rey for roughly six weeks and said complaints grew louder in the past few days.
- Cedars‑Sinai says groundwater periodically drained into the excavation for a state‑required emergency sewer holding tank, was treated, and released an odor when it mixed with storm‑drain runoff, and the hospital has paused excavation work while it coordinates with city teams.
- The South Coast Air Quality Management District says it has an active investigation and Los Angeles County Public Works says the discharge was permitted to a City of Los Angeles catch basin with a city environmental team on site.
- Neighbors describe headaches, nausea and dizziness, and they have captured video of murky water and reported dead sea life near the construction site.
- With no final agency finding or remediation announced, the case highlights tensions between required seismic resilience work for the new hospital and local health and environmental concerns and could prompt changes to how groundwater from excavations is handled.