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EMWD approves land exchange with Forestar development
Naiman
Joe
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The Eastern Municipal Water District approved a land exchange with Forestar Real Estate Group for property near Eastern’s Winchester Lift Station Facility.
The EMWD board voted 4-0 Jan. 18, with Randy Record absent, to approve the exchange and escrow process in which Eastern will give Forestar approximately 0.07 acres which will be dedicated for the widening of Olive Avenue and Forestar will give Eastern approximately 0.15 acres of a parcel adjacent to the lift station. The board action also declared the 0.07-acre portion of the EMWD parcel to be surplus.
The Forestar project in the vicinity of the lift station is the 221-unit La Ventana development. The conditions of approval included widening a portion of Olive Avenue, and that widened area will be dedicated to the County of Riverside for public right-of-way. The widening will impact the Winchester Lift Station Facility.
Forestar proposed exchanging a portion of its land adjacent to the lift station in exchange for the required road area. The EMWD parcel at the northeast corner of Olive Avenue and La Ventana Road totals approximately 0.91 acres, so Eastern will retain the remaining 0.84 acres while conveying the 0.07-acre area. The Forestar property to be transferred to Eastern abuts most of the existing eastern Winchester Lift Station site property line and is approximately 0.15 acres.
The exchange will increase the EMWD property to 0.99 acres. Forestar will also undertake site improvements which will reconfigure the site entrances. The current EMWD access is from Olive Avenue. After the reconfiguration, ingress and egress will occur at a new street within the development, which will also isolate EMWD crews from the expected increased traffic on Olive Avenue. The new primary access location will provide EMWD staff with safe access while a secondary access will be on Olive Avenue. Forestar will pay for all aspects of the construction to meet EMWD standards including demolishing the existing perimeter block wall, building a new perimeter block wall, and installing gates. feed bill, for example, is now more than double. As a supplier, Hilliker said he hasn’t had problems sourcing eggs from other farms, but he’s paying a much higher price and is passing those increased costs to his customers.
Forestar will also be financially responsible for escrow, title fees, the survey and all other ancillary costs of the property exchange.
“It hurts disadvantaged communities the most because they are the largest eaters of eggs, and the reason why: It’s the most inexpensive source of protein,” he said.
For Sonoma County egg farmer Tiffany Holbrook, who raises her chickens on pasture, production this time of year already is slower because hens “naturally take a break laying eggs during the winter.”
Higher feed costs
Unlike farms with indoor flocks that are exposed to special lighting to help production, she has to carry more hens if she wants to keep her production up. But with the higher cost of feed, she said she downsized her flock last fall, phasing out her older birds in October rather than waiting until this spring.
Holbrook sells most of her eggs directly to consumers from her farm and to restaurants. With the nationwide egg shortage and surge in prices, she said she has been fielding a high volume of calls and emails from people asking, “What’s going on?” In addition to the impacts of avian influenza, Holbrook pointed out that some California producers continue to struggle to obtain feed due to the drought.
“If you can’t feed your chickens enough, they don’t lay eggs,” she said. “They need those calories so they can survive, but their production’s going to drop.”
A business boon
The egg shortage has proved a boon for her business. Whereas she used to sell out multiple days a week, she’s now selling out every day. But she acknowledged concerns about avian influenza remain high because her birds are outdoors on pasture, where they can come into contact with wild birds that might carry the virus. Though she practices “strict biosecurity year-round,” she said, “I’m always kind of paranoid,” noting many wild birds use her pasture and the farm’s seasonal pond.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” Holbrook said. “We do what we can. We chase the birds off when we can, but for the most part, we just have to hope we get lucky.”
Ching Lee is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com
Permission to use this article was granted by the California Farm Bureau Federation.
Hazen & Sawyer to evaluate Elsinore Groundwater Basin emerging constituents
Joe Naiman Writer
The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District will be using Hazen & Sawyer to evaluate emerging constituents in the Elsinore Groundwater Basin.
The district approved the contract with Hazen & Sawyer at the Thursday, Jan. 12, EVMWD board meeting. Jack Ferguson was appointed to fill a board vacancy earlier that day and abstained from the vote due to his lack of familiarity with the action item, but the other four board members approved the professional services agreement which will pay Hazen & Sawyer $565,134. The board action authorized a total expenditure of $582,454 which will also cover $14,494 for staff time and $2,826 for overhead.
The Elsinore Groundwater Basin includes the Terra Cotta Well, the Machado Street Well, the Joy Street Well, the Summerly Well, the Diamond Well, the Corydon Street Well and the Cereal 1, Cereal 3 and Cereal 4 wells along with the Back Basin Groundwater Treatment Plant. The raw water quality at different locations within the Elsinore Groundwater Basin varies significantly and contains contaminants such as arsenic, vanadium, nitrate and per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The presence of those contaminants makes groundwater treatment and operations complex.
Current operational strategies such as local treatment and blending have been effective, but recent and anticipated regulations will create operational challenges.
The goal of the Elsinore Groundwater Basin emerging constituent st udy is to evaluate treatment strategies which will mitigate the district’s compliance obstacles due to emerging constituents. Hazen & Sawyer, which is headquartered in New York but has a regional headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in Irvine and San Diego, will assess the existing water distribution system network and water demands, the sources of supply and their locations, and water quality. The study will focus on groundwater treatment and blending options, possibly including a combination of treatment and blending, for the wells within the Elsinore Groundwater Basin to maintain compliance with current and anticipated regulations. Based on a preliminary screening evaluation, a short list of feasible and practical options will be developed and that will be followed by a detailed evaluation of the two most feasible options to recommend proposed future projects.
EVMWD staff issued a request for proposals to conduct groundwater treatment option studies Aug. 15. Four consultants provided proposals by the Oct. 5 deadline. A review panel evaluated the proposals based on firm qualifications, experience and project understanding. Hazen & Sawyer was recommended as the preferred consultant.
Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia. com.
EMWD adopts MND for Quail Valley Tank III Project
Joe Naiman Writer
The Eastern Municipal Water District adopted an environmental Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Quail Valley Tank III Project.
A 4-0 EMWD board vote Jan.
18, with Randy Record absent, adopted the Mitigated Negative Declaration. The board action also adopted a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the project.
The Quail Valley Tank III Project will construct a 1.63 million gallon welded steel potable water storage tank off South Canyon Drive within the Menifee city limits. The tank will have an internal diameter of 101 feet and will be 40 feet high. A detention basin will be located at South Canyon Drive as will an access road. The project will also install 1,105 linear feet of 18-inch diameter pipeline within the access road and South Canyon Drive. The tank is intended to address a storage capacity deficit in the EMWD potable water system. Pulte Home Company LLC, rather than Eastern, will finance the construction of the Quail Valley Tank III facilities.
EMWD completed the environmental Initial Study for the construction, use and operation of the project facilities, and a Mitigated Negative Declaration along with a Mitigation Monitor- ing and Reporting Program was prepared. The draft documentation was released for a 30-day public review period on Sept. 19. Four comment letters were received by the Oct. 20 deadline, and responses were incorporated into the final MND and MMRP. Mitigation measures were identified to reduce potentially significant impacts to less-than-significant levels for biological resources, cultural and Tribal resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, and noise. No specific Indian tribe has been designated to perform the Tribal monitoring, although the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians is expected to handle the monitoring tasks.
Flood control district solicits bids for Bautista Creek Channel Basin sediment removal
Joe Naiman Writer
The Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District approved the advertisement for bid of a contract to remove sediment along the Bautista Creek Channel Basin.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors, whose board members comprise the board of the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, voted 5-0 Tuesday, Jan. 10, to authorize the clerk of the board of supervisors to advertise the project for construction contract bids. The action also approved the Bautista Creek Channel Basin – Sediment Removal, Stage 90 Project and authorized Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation
District staff and contractors to proceed with the project, approved the plans and specifications and the contract documents for the project, set a Feb. 14 bid opening date and found the emergency maintenance project to be categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review.
The sediment removal area is south of Florida Avenue, east of Fairview Avenue and north of Bautista Canyon Road in the Valle Vista community. The project will excavate and remove accumulated sediment to the original grades of the existing basin, which will restore the basin’s capacity and function. The basin is currently at 25% remaining capacity and is thus in need of immediate maintenance to prevent damage to downstream levees, farms, businesses and residences.
The maintenance work will be limited to restoring the facility to its original design capacity and will not result in an expansion of the existing use beyond design lines and grades. The impacts on local residents and businesses are considered minimal although residents and businesses could experience general construction noise or dust from heavy equipment.
The engineer’s estimate for the project is $2,715,000. Once the bids are reviewed flood control district staff will return to the board for approval to award the contract to the low responsive and responsible bidder.
Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia. com.
CLAYTON, Mo. – Californians are deficient in vitamin C, according to a comprehensive study carried out by drug and medication information site, DrugGenius. com. They analyzed Google search trends data over 2022 to identify which supplements people have searched for the most over the year, which revealed some interesting results.
Overall, the most popular supplements to be searched for by Californians was vitamin C, with 32% searching for it, along with vitamin D at 28%. It was followed by vitamin A at 15%.
Vitamin C is thought to be beneficial for the flu and other infections because of its role in supporting the immune system. The immune system is the body’s defense system against pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, that can cause infections. Vitamin C is essential for the proper function of several components of the immune system, including white blood cells, which are responsible for fighting off infections.
Forty-three states searched for vitamin D the most. Supplements for vitamin D became more popular over the pandemic – when people were confined to their homes throughout lockdowns, people were getting less sunlight as a result and therefore began lacking in vitamin D. Known as the “sunshine vitamin,” it is also found in oily fish, egg yolks, cheese and beef liver. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin which helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus, two elements which are essential for building bones. Studies have also found that Vitamin D is effective in reducing cancer cell growth and helps control infection as well as inflammation in the body. A lack of vitamin D can result in fatigue, bone pain, muscle weakness, muscle aches or muscle cramps. DrugGenius.com has created a research page at https://druggenius.com/health/vitamin-deficiency-in-america/ with in-depth insights of the study.
Submitted by DrugGenius.com.
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