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Milpitas

Muse

Muse

Lifer
Every couple months or so I drive to Milpitas from Berkeley. Did it last week and there was a weird smell from I880 when I got a few miles from town. Noticed it last time too. Seemed like a smell you might encounter near the ocean, sort of a rotting smell, maybe plankton, decomposing seaweed. I asked my host if we were close to the ocean, and the reply was no, maybe 20-30 miles. Didn't get too close to the bone with that question. What is it?
 
a quick google search finds:

http://www.mercurynews.com/where-we-live/ci_5171655

In the early 1970s, Milpitas was no stranger to being the butt of jokes about how the prevailing winds seem to unfortunately push the stench of San Jose's sewage plant and landfills toward the smaller city to the north. Over the years, many motorists have held their noses as they passed Milpitas, wondering: "Eeeeeeeew. What's that smell?"


answer solved.

 
it's a combination of things.

1) yes milpitas and most of that area is built on landfill. you should have been there when it was all mounds of garbage.
2) when low tide hits, the bay water pulls out and the mud/silt bed is exposed. there are tons of decaying and decomposing bio-matter there, and probably some organisms that produce a bunch of sulfur compounds.
3) the salt evaporator ponds used to be over there. i.e. giant shallow pools of stagnant water.
 
Originally posted by: gorobei
it's a combination of things.

1) yes milpitas and most of that area is built on landfill. you should have been there when it was all mounds of garbage.
2) when low tide hits, the bay water pulls out and the mud/silt bed is exposed. there are tons of decaying and decomposing bio-matter there, and probably some organisms that produce a bunch of sulfur compounds.
3) the salt evaporator ponds used to be over there. i.e. giant shallow pools of stagnant water.
Click to expand...

this, used to come here to dump stuff when i was younger and man...landfills is a crazy place to be
 
Originally posted by: dud
Milpitas sounds like an idyllic, magical place ...
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I get a very limited view when I go to my periodic meetings, but what I see is lots of malls, tons of the typical franchises lining the highway (237 toward Milpitas, away from Mountain View), and that smell before I get on 237. Once in town, I don't notice the smell (or maybe I'm used to it by then).

Originally posted by: gorobei
it's a combination of things.

1) yes milpitas and most of that area is built on landfill. you should have been there when it was all mounds of garbage.
2) when low tide hits, the bay water pulls out and the mud/silt bed is exposed. there are tons of decaying and decomposing bio-matter there, and probably some organisms that produce a bunch of sulfur compounds.
3) the salt evaporator ponds used to be over there. i.e. giant shallow pools of stagnant water.
Click to expand...

I've been going to those meetings for a few years but I only became aware of the _smell_ within the last several months. Something seems to be getting a lot worse.
 
Ugh!

Milpitas is pretty suck. One of the lowest cost areas to buy a home/condo in the south bay. Community is around 70% asian as well.

Stench is definitely the worst before the 880/237 interchange. Worst is when it is summer and 80+ degrees outside. Garbage and brackish water from the bay combine for one horriffic smell.


 
I believe there is a large sewage processing plant located on the very tip of the South Bay (near Milpitas/237). Drive down 237 between Mountain View and Milpitas late at night and you'll get a nice strong whiff of it. Combine that with the Zanker Landfill up in the same region and you wish you didn't have your sense of smell.
 
Originally posted by: Fmr12B

Stench is definitely the worst before the 880/237 interchange. Worst is when it is summer and 80+ degrees outside. Garbage and brackish water from the bay combine for one horriffic smell.
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Yup, unfortunately it's on my commute home since I work in Santa Clara and live in Union City. Luckily it only lasts about 30 seconds before I drive past that area.
 
Originally posted by: thegimp03
I believe there is a large sewage processing plant located on the very tip of the South Bay (near Milpitas/237). Drive down 237 between Mountain View and Milpitas late at night and you'll get a nice strong whiff of it. Combine that with the Zanker Landfill up in the same region and you wish you didn't have your sense of smell.
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Yes, it's in Alviso, and I've been on a tour there.
Never seen so much shit in my life!
 
Trying to figure out how you can smell anything from Milpitas when you are on I80.

Possibly 680 or 880 but not 80
 
Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Trying to figure out how you can smell anything from Milpitas when you are on I80.

Possibly 680 or 880 but not 80
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Haha yea I-80 is at least 40 miles away from Milpitas.
 
Interesting, I lived in Milpitas for a summer and never noticed. However, I have noticed exactly that kind of smell (like rotten fish) in El Segundo (near LAX) around 8:30-9PM occasionally.
 
Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Trying to figure out how you can smell anything from Milpitas when you are on I80.

Possibly 680 or 880 but not 80
Click to expand...

OK, I guess the highway is named 880, hell I don't know. It's the freeway that goes past the Oracle Arena (AKA Oakland Coliseum) all the way down to Milpitas and leads to San Jose. It's been called one of the worst commutes in Northern California by pollees, probably the worst in terms of the rudeness of drivers. Going down to Milpitas in the late afternoon pretty much sucks at least until you get to Union City or somewheres around there, maybe Newark. Then it speeds up, but it starts to smell pretty bad.

Originally posted by: esun
Interesting, I lived in Milpitas for a summer and never noticed. However, I have noticed exactly that kind of smell (like rotten fish) in El Segundo (near LAX) around 8:30-9PM occasionally.
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I only started noticing it in the last year.
 
Originally posted by: Muse
Every couple months or so I drive to Milpitas from Berkeley. Did it last week and there was a weird smell from I80 when I got a few miles from town. Noticed it last time too. Seemed like a smell you might encounter near the ocean, sort of a rotting smell, maybe plankton, decomposing seaweed. I asked my host if we were close to the ocean, and the reply was no, maybe 20-30 miles. Didn't get too close to the bone with that question. What is it?
Click to expand...

Cus it's Norcal and Norcal smells like ass.
 
It's not JUST the sewage treatment plant... it's the Newby Island Landfill AND the sewage treatment plant! Yay! 🙂

Newby Island Landfill.

This is a huge landfill, right next to the freeway. It takes all the garbage of San Jose, Milpitas, and other cities. The sludge from the nearby San Jose sewage treatment plant is used as COVER for the garbage at the dump, and they burn collected methane from the garbage to use as electricity. They have a big levee and a moat around the island to keep crap from dripping into the Bay.

So basically, it is a gigantic crater filled with everyone's garbage and excrement. Yay for Milpitas!

The prevailing winds blow southeast, ensuring the every last succulent molecule of vaporized filth is sent directly over the freeway between Dixon Landing and 237.
 
yup reclaimed landfill. cisco and all those tech companies are clustered around a landfill lol🙂 it was reclaimed years ago and turned into a large asian/western mall with walmarts and all that other stuff. they claimed the smell would go away soon after the malls opened, but the stink has lingered. it only really comes out when it rains though, and its been raining the last few weeks.
 
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