User:Adflatuss/Chiquita Canyon Landfill

The Chiquita Canyon Landfill is a 639 acre at 29201 Henry May Drive, in Castaic, California, United States. Located in the Santa Clarita Valley in northwestern Los Angeles County along State Route 126, it is owned and operated by Waste Connections. Since 1972, the solid waste landfill has disposed of residential and commercial waste by compacting layers of trash and covering those layers daily with soil.

A chemical reaction deep within the landfill probably began in May 2022. The landfill’s containment systems have been overwhelmed with rainwater filtering through the rotting garbage. Oxygen may have intruded below the landfill cover causing the generation of extreme heat, production of excessive leachate, and the buildup of pressure within a 35 acre of the site. Hot, contaminated water has been forced to the surface which occasionally erupts like a geyser. This leachate has changed the landfill gas that now has a nauseating, sulphuric odor, impacting thousands of nearby residents. While the residents of Val Verde have been smelling odors for many years, neighborhoods as far away as Stevenson Ranch have complained to the South Coast Air Quality Management District about the overwhelming stench. The company has community air quality monitoring stations in Val Verde and in Hasley Canyon Park in Castaic. A Community Relief Program by the company was instituted to provide funds to assist residents who want to relocate temporarily.