Thousands of fish turn up dead in Maricopa lake, causing foul problem for nearby residents

MARICOPA, Ariz. (KSAZ) - People in a community south of the Valley are dealing with a smelly mess on Monday, as thousands of fish turned up dead in a lake in Maricopa.

It's probably best that smell-o-vision is not a thing for television (or for that matter, this website), as some of the residents at the Rancho El Dorado development in Maricopa are dealing with the huge floating mass of dead fish on an artificial lake.

"It was a scary sight to see," said Bea White, who lives in the area. "I've never seen anything like that before."

No one knows what led to the mass death, and officials with the City of Maricopa say since it happened on a private property, they are not involved. Meanwhile, officials with a Gilbert company called H2Ology, which takes care of the lake for the development's Homeowners' Association, say fish will unfortunately die sometimes in the heat of the summer, especially when conditions include high humidity and a lot of cloud cover.

The company says it will clean up the dead fish.