San Diego is gearing up to bring back a bacteria-based odor spray along the cliffs above La Jolla Cove, reopening one of the community’s longest-running turf wars between beachside businesses and environmental advocates.
The target is not the wildlife itself but what it leaves behind. Seabird and pinniped droppings can build up on the bluffs and send a sharp, sometimes day-long odor drifting into restaurants, shops and sidewalks below. City parks officials say the goal is to break that waste down before it becomes an all-day assault on the nose, while critics worry about what else might get caught in the chemical crossfire.
City Application And Product Details
The city’s Parks & Recreation Department has applied for a coastal development permit to let crews treat about 2,180 square feet of cliff face with BIOCAAC, a bioactive odor counteractant and cleaner sold by Ark Environmental Solutions. As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, the work would be paid for out of the city’s general fund, with each application of the spray estimated to cost roughly $325.
City’s Explanation And Safeguards
In a statement to Times of San Diego, city spokesman Benny Cartwright described BIOCAAC as a water-based blend of cultured, non-pathogenic bacteria and a surfactant that digests animal waste into water, oxygen and carbon dioxide. He said any new spraying would follow best-management practices.
According to city officials, treatments would be done only when conditions call for it rather than on a fixed schedule. They say on-site biological monitoring is built into the plan to avoid impacts on marine mammals that haul out in and around the cove.
Opposition And Ecological Concerns
Neighbors and conservation advocates are not sold on the idea of misting anything over a protected shoreline, no matter how benign the label sounds. They argue that the bluffs sit directly above a marine protected area, and that any misstep could have ripple effects well beyond the nose…