Marina del Rey residents blame Cedars-Sinai construction for weeks-long sewage stench

For roughly six weeks, people living in Marina del Rey have been enduring a strong, sewage-like odor that many describe as nauseating. Residents such as Laura Clementi and David Levy liken the smell to a rotting outhouse, and some have even fled the area. The community identified the source as the excavation for an emergency sewer holding tank at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital, where groundwater has periodically entered the site.

The hospital says the treated water can emit an odor when it mixes with storm-drain runoff, and video shows water pooling in the dig site and runoff reaching the marina. In response, Cedars-Sinai paused the work out of caution and is working with the Los Angeles Sanitation Bureau, while the South Coast Air Quality Management District has opened an investigation. Residents report that stopping the water flow has reduced the smell, but they remain eager for a permanent solution.