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Volume 169 • Issue 146 | 75¢
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CA Notify has launched to notify those using the app if they have come into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
On the weekend following Thanksgiving, the 22-yearold Randall Tract Bridge was decorated by the Guensler, Ramirez and Fletcher families, residents of the area. The tradition was started by Ed and Janet Alves. The current bridge replaced the wood and steel bridge that was taken out in 1997 by logs following the landslide that closed Highway 50, Darrell Guensler shared. He said the logs were “like battering rams” flowing down the river after a heavy snowfall and Pineapple Express rainstorm.
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Photos by Mark Bowen
Pump station overhaul OK’d in Outingdale Dawn Hodson Staff writer The El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors unanimously approved spending $1,850,000 to upgrade the Outingdale raw water pump station. The expenditure included awarding a contract to James C. Cushman Inc. for $1,430,020 for construction of the raw water pump station replacement, Luhdorff and Scalmanini $111,765 for construction engineering services, JLR Environmental Consultants $102,000 for inspection services, $40,000 for capitalized labor and $166,215 for contingencies. The Outingdale Water Company constructed the original pump station in the 1960s to supply water to the Outingdale community with the water pumped out of the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River to the Outingdale Water Treatment Plant. EID annexed the water system in the early 1970s and the raw water pump station was upgraded in 1988. The district currently provides potable water to 190 single-family services in Outingdale. Staff noted that the current raw water pumps are obsolete and frequently fail. They also vacuum up a great deal of sand and debris from the river, which further decreases the service lives of the pumps. And, due to their age, replacement parts for the existing pumps must be manufactured, as off-the-shelf parts are no longer available. With the existing equipment and site configuration having reached the end of their service lives, staff recommended replacing the pump station and making other safety improvements to the site. While the board agreed and ultimately voted to approve the project, Director Alan n
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The Outingdale raw water pump station, above, pumps out of the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River to the Outingdale water treatment plant. Intake conditions and challenges to pumping water out of the Cosumnes River include dredging up sand and other debris with pumps past their prime.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced the statewide launch of CA Notify — a new digital tool he said will help reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Starting Dec. 10, Californians could opt in to receive COVID-19 notifications informing them if they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus. “Throughout this “The process is pandemic we have tapped California’s private, anonymous talent pool to fight and secure, and this virus and that includes working is one of the with tech innovators many tools in the like Apple and state’s data-driven Google,” said Newsom. “CA Notify approach to help will help slow the reduce the spread.” spread by alerting those who opt in to — Gov. Gavin Newsom receive an alert if they’ve come into contact with someone who has tested positive. The process is private, anonymous and secure, and is one of the many tools in the state’s data-driven approach to help reduce the spread.” CA Notify is a digital tool that protects privacy and security and does not collect device location to detect exposure and does not share a users’ identities, according to Newsom’s press release. The tool was developed in partnership with Google and Apple and piloted with the help of the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, San Francisco. Californians can receive alerts by enabling CA Notify in their iPhone settings or on Android phones by downloading the CA notify app from the Google Play store. When individuals voluntarily activate CA Notify, the tool uses Bluetooth technology to exchange random codes between phones without revealing the user’s identity or location. If a CA Notify user tests positive for COVID-19, they will receive a verification code text from the California Department of Public Health at (855)976-8462 to plug into the app — if they choose. Any other CA Notify users who have been within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more of the COVID19 positive individual will get an anonymous notification of possible exposure. They can enter the code into CA Notify, triggering an alert to phones of people who may have been exposed in the previous 14 days. “When combined with other actions like wearing masks and physical distancing, CA Notify can help curb the transmission of COVID-19,” said Dr. Mark
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