Community Health and Resources

Residents living near the landfill have continued to report health effects, including headaches, respiratory effects, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Public health agencies continuously review air monitoring data and compare it to health guidance values. The information included on this page will provide information on air monitoring, odor problems, health effects, and data analysis with resources for further information.

Highly odorous compounds emitted from the landfill, such as hydrogen sulfide, smell like rotten eggs or cabbage and can be detected by the human nose even before they are detectable by air monitoring equipment. While short-term exposure to odorous chemicals may be a nuisance, persistent exposure to odors can cause real physical symptoms. Health impacts due to chronic exposure to odors vary from person to person and sensitive subpopulations – such as children, seniors, or those with chronic health conditions – may be more susceptible to such effects. Additionally, health effects due to odorous chemicals are more likely to be triggered if the odor is unpleasant, a person has had a previous bad experience with that odor, a person believes the odor to be harmful, or the odor induces stress. Other factors, such as seasonal allergies or a difficult life event, may contribute to these adverse effects.

Health effects from environmental odors include:
Visit your healthcare provider if you have questions or concerns about your health, letting them know that you live near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.

The County also has a webinar about Environmental Odors and Health to understand how environmental odors can impact health, recognize common odor-related symptoms, and implement effective management strategies for affected patients.
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For more information on health effects due to chronic exposure to odors, visit the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s Are Environmental Odors Toxic?

Since 2022, SCS Engineers, a Chiquita Canyon LLC contractor, has been operating a network of 12 air-monitoring stations (MS) – five around the CCL perimeter (MS-01 – MS-05) and seven throughout the surrounding community (MS-06– MS-12). Air monitor locations were selected to cover the area most impacted by landfill emissions. At each station, air pollution measurements are gathered using equipment to monitor hydrogen sulfide, methane, and wind information every hour and in near real time. Data is publicly available shortly after collection.

Since April 2024, the air monitoring program expanded to include specialized air monitors for Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs. VOCs are chemicals that readily evaporate into the air at room temperature. Many odorous compounds are VOCs. Long-term average concentrations of the monitored VOCs have not exceeded long-term health guidance values (see below) and are similar to background levels in the Los Angeles County area. VOC monitors will continue to gather data for evaluation of both short- and long-term health risks. In May 2024, specialized monitors were also installed at the MS-10 (Hasley Canyon Park) and MS-12 (Val Verde Community) stations to measure hourly concentrations of benzene and other VOCs.

For more information and up-to-date monitoring data at all community sites, please visit Air Monitoring.

Health Guidance Values – Health Guidance Values (HGVs) are concentrations of a chemical at or below which adverse health effects are not expected to occur for a specified exposure duration. They are valuable risk assessment tools to protect human health from air toxics. A wide variety of HGVs are developed by state, federal, and private entities that are designed to inform specific decisions ranging from notification to risk management to enforcement. Each HGV has a limited scope of application and they should not be used interchangeably.
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Reference Exposure Levels, or RELs, are a type of HGV developed by CalEPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). OEHHA develops acute and chronic RELs for infrequent 1-hour and continuous lifetime exposures, respectively. They provide acceptable exposure thresholds to inform risk management decisions to protect human health. MCAT uses acute RELs to analyze short-term data from community air monitors. Acute RELs are threshold values at or below which adverse health effects are not expected to occur for exposures up to 1 hour. In other words, a chemical’s acute REL tells us that a person can be exposed at that concentration for an hour or less without an expected health effect. When a chemical does not have an acute orchronic REL, the strictest available HGV from another entity is used.

Air monitors have been placed throughout the community surround Chiquita Canyon Landfill. They provide 1-hour average air concentrations of chemicals of concern. Monitoring data that fall below an acute REL are not expected to cause health effects. When monitoring data is above a REL, adverse health effects are not necessarily expected to occur, rather this is a flag for further analysis, possible risk mitigation decisions, and community notification. However, sensitive populations may decide to take precautionary actions such as shelter-in-place until further data is provided. Chronic RELs are lower concentrations than acute RELs since they are derived to be protective of continuous exposures over a lifetime. Chronic RELs are used to compare long-term air monitoring data.

Portable air cleaners with an activated carbon filter can help to remove gases and odors, while a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter removes particles such as dust and pollen. Some portable air cleaners can filter both particles and gases. The following tips are provided to guide proper and effective use of an air cleaner that can help minimize exposure to landfill emissions, such as those at CCL.

  • Air filters with large amounts of activated carbon help remove benzene and other VOCs as well as odors. Additional odor-reducing filters, such as those with potassium permanganate, are recommended to further remove odorous gases.
  • Filters should be replaced regularly in accordance with manufacturer instructions.
  • Check filters and air cleaners at least once a month for odors, dustaccumulation, and damage.
  • Air cleaning devices such as CARB Certified Air Cleaners should be certified by the California Air Resources Board for electrical safety and to minimize ozone generation indoors.
  • Air cleaning devices should be properly sized for the space where they are used, based on the clean air delivery rate (CADR) or other metric that describes the area or volume the device is rated.
Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions and useair cleaners that are certified by the California Air Resources Board.

Public water systems are required to monitor raw and finished water as required by their permit and by California’s Safe Drinking Water Act. At this time, there is no indication that drinking water supplies have been affected by the ongoing situation at the Chiquita Canyon Landfill. The LA Regional Water Quality Control Board required the landfill to install additional monitoring wells and has increased the frequency of testing the water around the landfill. If testing shows that contamination is migrating off-site, the regional board will coordinate with the appropriate state and local agencies to increase monitoring frequencies for any vulnerable drinking water sources.

If you own a private domestic well not regulated by the State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Drinking Water, you can refer to “A Guide for Private Domestic Well Owners” (ca.gov). If you wish to test your well, the following link provides access to a geographic information system (GIS) application that enables users to locate the State Water Resources Control Board’s Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP) accredited laboratories: California ELAP Certified Laboratories.

Learn more:
·       Water quality results from groundwater monitoring wells is available at Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Groundwater.
·       The System Area Boundary Layer (SABL) Look-up Tool enables people to locate their location on a map and identify the service area boundary that provides their water.

Updates, information and resources from the Response Multi-Agency Coordination group, responsible for immediate mitigation plans related to leachate at Chiquita Canyon Landfill.