Neighbors and business owners spent more than two years complaining of strong odors and potential health concerns caused by the septic tank on Federal Boulevard.
SAN DIEGO — A large septic tank used to temporarily store portable-toilet waste has been hauled away from a Federal Boulevard property after more than two years of odor complaints, a petition by nearby residents and businesses, and a lawsuit filed by an adjacent property owner.
Darryl Cotton, an engineer who has owned his Federal Boulevard property for about 30 years, said he began using the site as an urban farm, “151 Farms,” after retiring from his power-generation and electrical-distribution business.
When he brought real estate broker Jeff Davies to the property roughly two years ago to help sell it, Davies said he immediately noticed a strong smell.
“When I first came to the property, there was like a major smell — like an animal smell,” Davies said. “It hit me hard.”
Davies said he and Cotton initially thought the odor might be caused by dogs or another issue on Cotton’s property. But during a later visit with potential buyers, Davies said they both saw a truck pumping into a large tank sitting just four feet away from Cotton’s lot.
“The smell was horrendous,” Davies said.
Cotton quickly suspected the stench was coming from a more than 20,000-gallon tank of human septage on the lot next door where United Rentals, a portable toilet supplier, operates.
Cotton provided photos to CBS 8 showing the lid of the tank was often left wide open.
Workers and business owners along Federal Boulevard said they also noticed recurring foul odors.
Alana Holmes, a resident and employee at Originals Cannabis Dispensary, said the smell could become overpowering.
“It will be this pungent, disgustingly bad smell. It’ll smell like rotten eggs, and sometimes I’ll even allocate it to a dead skunk,” Holmes said.
Fernando Flores, manager of Kalifornia Auto Care & Electrical, said employees experienced periodic waves of odor.
“We get slammed with that heavy smell,” Flores said. “It’s a really toxic smell.”
William Campos, owner of Campos Concrete, said the odors had become so difficult that he planned to leave when his lease ends.
“It’s like a really bad, kind of like a rotten-egg smell coming out of somewhere,” Campos said. “To the point where I started puking and getting sick every time I smelled it.”
Campos said he has begun working from home because he cannot tolerate the smell at the property.
“I can’t stay here,” Campos said.
Cotton believes the waste inside the tank was generating toxic chemicals, including hydrogen sulfide, the same chemical causing rotten-egg smells and health concerns in the South Bay due to raw sewage contamination in the Tijuana River Valley.
Cotton created a petition and collected signatures from about 90 people in the area asking government agencies to address the issue.
A city spokesperson told CBS 8 that San Diego does not oversee permits related to tanks or septage and this was a San Diego County matter. However, the spokesperson also said an active city code-enforcement investigation was underway.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for San Diego County Land Use & Environment Group told CBS 8 that the county’s role in this situation is the permitting of the pumping trucks. They argue the storage tank is a temporary holding tank not regulated or permitted by the county.
“United Rentals uses this to temporarily store waste from smaller trucks before transporting a larger volume to an approved liquid waste disposal site in El Cajon. Due to community complaints about odor, as part of our authority to regulate the unlawful discharge of wastewater, County inspectors have been to the property multiple times but have not seen any wastewater discharge during those visits,” Donna Durckel, a communications officer for the department, said.
CBS 8 also reached out to United Rentals. On September 11, their attorney sent a reply stating that the company “is aware of concerns raised regarding its facility on Federal Boulevard in San Diego.”
The attorney added that they are looking into the matter and that the lid is only open during maintenance activities.
CBS 8 followed up in a separate email inquiring about how often the tank is filled and emptied, but did not hear back.
Tired of no action being taken, on Aug. 7, Cotton filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego seeking to expedite its own investigation into the tank.
Monday, Cotton’s security cameras captured footage of the tank being removed, leaving the area beside his property empty.
Cotton said the tank’s removal may end the immediate odor issue but does not resolve his concern about which agency has authority to regulate similar wastewater-storage operations.
“What we don’t still have is any of the agencies taking responsibility for the jurisdictional regulations of this type of activity. And that’s still a problem,” Cotton said.