Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Earlimart, CA

Do you have questions about tap water in Earlimart, California?

Here’s what you need to know about water quality, a recent boil-water notice, and who to call when you have a problem with your drinking water.

Reporters with The Fresno Bee created this guide to frequently asked questions after residents said they lacked clear information about their water.

Please let us know if you have additional questions or comments by using the form below or by clicking here.

A: The Earlimart Public Utility District provides water service to more than 8,000 residents and dozens of businesses in the town of Earlimart.

All the tap water is groundwater. It comes from deep underground aquifers in the Tule Subbasin, pumped to the surface with wells and delivered to homes through pipes.

A: Several residents said their water service failed a few times in late May.

Officials say a well on Mary Ann Avenue broke and it wasn’t pumping water. There was gravel in the pump and when they looked down the well with a camera they found out the casing had failed.

The water came back on when the district turned another well on that had been off.

A: Water users in Earlimart were told to use bottled water or to boil their tap water before cooking or drinking it from May 28 to June 8.

State regulators said there might have been bacteria in the water system after their was an outage. Boiling water kills bacteria and prevents stomach and intestinal illness.

The boil notice was canceled after testing showed there was no bacteria, according to state regulators.

A: Some of the water in Earlimart currently comes from a well that is contaminated with a toxic substance with known health risks after long-term exposure. It is polluted with 123-TCP, a chemical from an old pesticide.

Earlimart water came from the contaminated well for years until it was turned off in 2018. That’s when the state began regulating TCP. The well was turned back on in May 2020.

A: If you have low water pressure or are concerned about your water quality, you have a few options.

Report the problem

Call your water service provider, the Earlimart Public Utility District, at 661-849-2663. If the problem continues, you can file a complaint to the Tulare District office of the state Water Resources Control Board at 559-447-3300.

You might be asked to provide your name and address so regulators can trace the cause of the water problem. You can leave an anonymous message. You don’t have to give your personal information to inform state regulators of a problem. Spanish language is available.

Attend a public meeting

You can go to a public meeting of the Board of Directors of the Earlimart Public Utility District and make a public comment about the water service or ask questions. If you are a water customer, they work for you.

Meetings are generally held at 2 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at the utility office at 396 N Church Road Suite No. 6. By law, an agenda should be posted on the door of the utility building at least 72 hours before the meeting.

Reduce exposure

You can reduce exposure to water contaminants by drinking and cooking with bottled water. Certain filters that use activated carbon, like a Brita filter, can remove TCP contamination from your tap water. However, the filter has to be changed frequently.

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This form was created inside of The McClatchy Company.

This story was originally published July 8, 2020, 4:59 AM.

By Susanne Rust,

Emily Alpert Reyes, Brittny Mejia, Hannah Fry

March 12, 2023 Updated 11:28 PM PT

PAJARO, Calif. —

California was bracing for another round of rain beginning Monday as officials tried to assess the damage from severe flooding along the Central Coast and Central Valley, which left scores stranded and whole blocks under water.

A levee failure on the Pajaro River in Monterey County — three miles upstream from the town of Pajaro — triggered massive flooding in and around the farming town and prompted evacuations.

More than 5,000 people in Monterey County were under an evacuation order or warning on Sunday, with more than 400 people sheltering at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, a recreation center and a Salinas church. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 2,000 people had already been evacuated, mostly out of the Pajaro area, Sheriff Tina Nieto said.

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Flooding or mudslides had shut down several stretches of the highways Sunday morning around Watsonville in Santa Cruz County, including Highway 1 and both eastbound and westbound and State Route 152. Monterey County remained littered with road closures from flooding, downed trees or power lines, and storm damage and debris. And flooding also led to the closure Sunday morning of another major artery in the Bay Area — Interstate 880 in Fremont.

Yet another atmospheric river will bring new flood concerns to Northern California beginning Monday and continuing through Tuesday night.

The Salinas River continued to rise in Monterey County, prompting evacuation orders in the region northwest of Spreckels on Sunday night. Officials predict the river will crest at Highway 68 in the early hours Monday, which could cause significant flooding in nearby agricultural land.

“The Salinas River’s behavior is unpredictable and coupled with the recent storms and the Pajaro River flooding we ask you to be prepared and plan for changing circumstances,” officials wrote in a news release.

California emergency officials said Sunday that they were already coordinating plans to position flood fighting personnel, including swift water rescue teams.

“We’re mapping where the next storm is going to hit and putting resources” — firefighters, National Guard crews, high water vehicles — “in areas where the storm is going to be most severe or where there are already rivers that are swollen, so that if something does happen, you can quickly get in and rescue people,” said Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

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State officials are eyeing areas that could be affected and doing outreach ahead of the next round of storms to “our most vulnerable Californians” who may be hit harder or need more time to evacuate, including people who are older, disabled, homeless or speak English as a second language, Ferguson said.

The Bay Area saw bands of rain showers and thunderstorms Sunday, but “the focus is going to be on the next atmospheric river that arrives Monday evening,” said Patrick Ayd, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. A flood watch and high wind warning were slated to go into effect for the Bay Area and Central Coast starting Monday evening.

Weather officials warned that high winds along the water in the Bay Area beginning Monday night “could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility.”

The upcoming storms are expected to hit the same areas as the last round, Ayd said, with the worst impact at higher elevations.

In the aftermath of the recent storms, “we have very saturated soils, which will make us even more prone to flooding,” and power outages are expected, especially around Monterey, Ayd said. Rock and mudslides are also possible.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain caused some flooding in Fresno County on Sunday evening, but forecasters are already looking to the next storm system that will roll in starting Monday, bringing as much as 6 inches of rain at higher elevations in the region.

Jim Bagnall, a meteorologist with the weather service in Hanford, said rivers and creeks “are already running high, so this additional water on top of that makes flooding our main concern,” especially in the Springville area in Tulare County northeast of Porterville.

“Anywhere up there in the hills is going to be of concern,” he said. Bagnall urged residents to “pay attention to the forecast. Listen to the local officials. And if they are told they need to get out, heed the advice of the local officials there.”

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services warned Sunday that as rain, mountain snow and gusty winds descend on Northern and Central California, flooding and power outages could follow. It recommended that people keep emergency kits at home, have their vehicles full of fuel and sign up for emergency alerts.

Ferguson said that as one storm follows another, “these disasters really do build upon each other,” ramping up the risk that levees will give way. Across the state, emergency officials are also grappling with concerns about water contamination; roofs collapsing from snow in the Sierras; plans for sustaining nursing homes and other facilities if power goes out, and the future toll of mold in now-flooded homes, he said.

“We are more used to having wildfires in this state,” he said. “Floods are in many ways more challenging.”

California

March 11, 2023

Southern California will see rain Tuesday and Wednesday, with flooding possible in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, according to the National Weather Service.

“This next atmospheric river event is not looking like it’s going to be as strong, but when you have a flood on top of a flood, it just makes a bigger flood,” said Cindy Kobold, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “That means this next one could be more impactful, because the ground is way overly saturated, and we’re going to have additional rainfall, with gusty winds.”

The biggest impact of the most recent storm has been in the town of Pajaro, with a population of 1,700, mostly farmworkers.

The levee on the Pajaro River breached late Friday night, said Nicholas Pasculli, a Monterey County spokesperson. Patrols noticed “bubbling up in the adjacent farmland” at 11 p.m., the first sign of trouble.

The levee failed around midnight. The failure is approximately 300 feet wide and workers are bringing in rocks and other materials to stabilize the breach before the next storm arrives, Pasculli said.

Andres Garcia, 39, said this was his third evacuation from Pajaro because of the flooding river: another in January and one in 1995, when the town was flooded “even worse” than now.

California

March 11, 2023

He, his wife and 8-year-old daughter left the city early Saturday, after they got a knock on the door from a sheriff’s deputy who urged them to evacuate. Garcia said they left before the water got too high, and he had no idea about the condition of his house.

His neighbor Laura Garcia left after dawn. She showed a video of water sloshing through her house — lapping against a crib, dining room set and shelves.

Andres Garcia said many farmworkers will be out of a job for as long as the water stays high and fields are submerged.

“They can’t do anything while it’s like this,” he said.

Sheriff Nieto said that nearly 200 rescues had been conducted as of Sunday afternoon.

The flooding had also led to possible contamination of drinking water, they warned, urging Pajaro residents to not use tap water for drinking or cooking until further notice.

Major flooding was reported in Tulare County’s Springville area — where officials conducted dozens of water rescues Friday morning — and in Kernville, where the roaring Kern River surrounded houses and mobile homes, spurring evacuations.

Valeriana López, a 55-year-old resident of Tooleville in Tulare County, said the floodwater didn’t come inside her home but turned her yard into mud. She set down boards to get across the yard and was searching for sandbags to create a walkway.

Sheriff’s deputies went door to door Friday night urging residents to be ready to leave, López said. But she chose to stay.

“I’m going to trust in God, because we can’t do anything,” she said. “We don’t have anywhere to go.”

Times staff writer Ian James contributed to this report.

FRESNO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today American Pistachio Growers (APG), the non-profit trade association for the West’s booming pistachio industry, announced it will be sending an unlikely “celebrity” contingent to China on a PR tour to promote their product to the 1.4 billion population—their own farmers and Miss California. The announcement was made amid recent drought woes facing agriculture, with about 99% of the California crop being grown in the drought’s hardest-hit region, the Central Valley.

In addition to Bree Morse, Miss California 2015, the growers who will travel across China include Jimi Valov, Devin Aviles and Alison Nagatani, all from California’s Central Valley. The nine-day blitz stretches across China, focusing on four major cities (Shanghai, Ningbo, Xi’an, Beijing) and begins December 10. Their trip coincides with the Holidays and just ahead of Chinese New Year, a season when pistachios are a popular food and gift item.

“Our farmers are resilient and forward-thinking,” said Judy Hirigoyen, APG’s Vice President, Global Marketing. “We have an unusually small crop this year, but there are so many acres of new trees planted that they’re looking to the future and the need to build demand ahead of supply when the younger trees start producing.”

The Chinese market, even with its recent economic slowing, remains one of the largest consumers of pistachios in the world, with U.S. pistachio industry shipments to China increasing 145% from 2008-2013. Pistachios are viewed not only as a healthful snack, but an important plant-based protein source and a food that research suggests makes it a tasty tool in the pantry arsenal against diabetes. China has the world’s largest diabetes epidemic, overtaking the U.S. in prevalence.¹

Jimi Valov, Vice Chairman of APG and a third-generation grower of pistachios in the Central Valley, says he is looking forward to the trip to China. “Our competition in China is Iranian product, which at times is lower in price for a variety of reasons, one being that we have very strict food safety standards in the United States. We think it’s important for Chinese consumers to hear directly from us, to see the people who are growing their food.”

Alison Nagatani, a second-generation grower and mother of two small children, said, “As a mom and as the person who’s actually driving the tractor on our farm, I’m really excited about the opportunity to meet our customers face-to-face, especially moms, and to say, ‘Thank you for buying the pistachios I’ve worked so hard to produce.’”

According to California’s Department of Agriculture, out of more than 400 agricultural commodities grown in California, pistachios ranked in the top ten, valued at $1.6 billion in 2014. In crop year 2013/14, 65% of total production was exported, and greater China accounted for more than 25% of the total.²

“Pistachio growers are building relationships with their consumers, conveying the quality America is known for and the care that goes into their product. Their eye is on the future, when their children will be farming the same orchards,” concluded Hirigoyen.

About American Pistachio Growers American Pistachio Growers (APG) is a non-profit trade association representing more than 625 grower members in California, Arizona and New Mexico. APG is governed by an 18-member board of directors who are growers and is funded by growers and independent processors with the shared goal of increasing global awareness of nutritious, American-grown pistachios. For more, visit AmericanPistachios.org.

¹ International Diabetes Federation, idf.org/BRIDGES/map/china 11.19.15 ² Administrative Committee for Pistachios

MEDIA NOTE: APG will be posting regular updates and photos from the China trip at AmericanPistachios.org/media

sweldy@visaliatimesdelta.com

Earlimart teens have long been bussed to Delano High School at the price of $437,000 a year. That’s about to change with the opening of a new high school in the southern Tulare County city.

The new high school will operate as a partnership between Delano and Earlimart school districts, Delano Joint Union High School District Superintendent Rosalina Rivera said.

Delano Joint Union High School District will build the high school with $17 million in remaining funds from a bond approved in 2005, Rivera said. The district is leasing property west of Earlimart’s Alila School on Washington Avenue from the Earlimart School District for only $1 a year.

A high school within Earlimart’s city limits is long overdue, Rivera said.

“The city of Earlimart for many years has requested through the high school district to build a high school and the citizens of Earlimart were instrumental in acquiring the bond money and we felt we had a responsibility to the city of Earlimart to develop their vision and their dream to build a high school,” Rivera said. “And it’s a lot of good financing and planning and making sure we use every dollar appropriately.”

The two school districts are currently in the planning process of bringing the school to reality.

The lease agreement was just approved June 17 and groundbreaking is still roughly one year away, Rivera said.

Members of the two schools districts are currently in the process of trying to create partnerships with colleges — including Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Fresno State and University of California, Davis — so the high school can offer career-ready technical pathways, Armendariz said.

The high school is proposed to have a maximum enrollment of 600 students, but is to start out with 200 to 400 students. The school is to have a focus on agricultural technology. District staff members are currently in discussions about students being able to obtain an associate degree or college credits in ag- and technology-related fields at the school.

The school’s ag focus is proposed to delve into horticulture, ag business, ag auto mechanics and other ag-and tech-related fields.

“We realize technology is the field of the future,” Rivera said. “And to add ag-related field and career-technical education opportunities, that seems like what the industry is requesting. We want our students to be career ready and college ready so they can advance their careers or they can graduate and be ready to take on a career with a high school diploma.”

Students not interested in ag technology will still be able to attend Delano High School, where health technology, welding, digital production and more career technical education programs are available.

Bussing will still be available for Earlimart students that decide to attend school in Delano, Armendariz said.

For students wanting to include sports activities as part of their high school careers, they may want to consider attending Delano High School, as the Earlimart-based school is not anticipated to offer sports-related activities.

However, a proposed soccer and baseball field for physical education classes could also be open for community usage, Armendariz said.

According to the Delano school district, roughly 800 Earlimart students are currently bussed to and attend Delano High School.

With the construction of the new high school, Armendariz said the school districts are hoping to cut those numbers by half.

The new Earlimart high school is still roughly three-four years away from opening its doors.

This current year is focused on project planning, Rivera said.

Local parents and community members have been able to voice their feedback on the direction of the new high school through forums, Rivera said. The public is still invited to share their thoughts and ideas with the school districts.

“We’re always open to have our parents in our community of Earlimart call us and give us their opinion and we’re also open for them to come in and we can share the information we have available. We have an open door policy in our district and we always welcome our parents,” Rivera said.

‘Roadkill Garage’ is a spinoff of the highly popular online show ‘Roadkill’ and airs on the online automotive channel Motor Trend on Demand. The show is hosted by Hot Rod Magazine’s editor-in-chief David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich, who also features on Motor Trend’s ‘Engine Masters.’ If you’ve seen the show, you’ve probably noticed that these guys seem to be driving their resurrected automotive beasts in the middle of nowhere! Are you curious to know where the show is filmed? We’ve got you covered!

Roadkill Garage Filming Locations

‘Roadkill Garage’ takes place in a garage and attached junkyard on Steve Dulcich’s sprawling farm. The junkyard and the farm it is based out of is located in California. Like its predecessor, ‘Roadkill Garage’ is filmed with a very basic film crew and is mostly unscripted. The hosts, along with their friends (and Dulcich’s farm dogs, who feature regularly), generally start the episode by picking out a car from the junkyard and proceed to fix it up and take it for a spin.

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The opening episode of ‘Roadkill Garage’ premiered on March 4, 2016, and was the first and only episode released on YouTube, which can be streamed for free. All future episodes of the show are available on the Motor Trend On Demand streaming platform.

Tulare County, California

‘Roadkill Garage’ takes place on Steve Dulcich’s farm in Earlimart, Tulare County in Southern California. The farm is located at 5517 Road 148, Earlimart, and contains the junkyard and garage that serve as the backdrop of the show. The wide-open surrounding farm areas and straight roads prove to be the perfect playground for the tinkering duo to test their handiwork and see how effectively they have brought old cars back to life.

The farm itself has an interesting history and is the Dulcich family farm that was originally obtained by Steve’s grandfather John before World War II. The rest of the family, including Steve’s father George, immigrated in 1947 and joined John on the farm in Earlimart.

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A post shared by Steve Dulcich (@stevedulcich)

The Dulcich farm, like many others in the area, produces tabletop grapes. The region is known for its agricultural produce, especially its grapes, and is often touted as the world’s most productive region.

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