[...] even as officials said several factors indicate the Salton Sea as the source of the sulfurous smell, air quality investigators stopped short of declaring with certainty that the saltwater lake 150 miles southeast of Los Angeles was the cause. Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said in a statement late Monday that "there is not yet any definitive evidence to pinpoint the Salton Sea or any other source yet." The dying sea had a fish die-off within the past week and that, combined with strong storms in the area Sunday, could have churned up the water and unleashed bacteria from the sea floor that caused the stench, said Janis Dawson of the Salton Sea Authority. Jack Crayon, an environmental scientist at California's Department of Fish and Game, said he recognized the smell as the typical odor when winds churn up the sea's waters and pull gases from the decomposition of fish or other organisms up to the surface. Julie Hutchinson, battalion chief at California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in Riverside, said cloud cover lingering over the area has trapped the smell in the suburbs east of Los Angeles.
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