By News Channel 3
newsline3@kesq.com

WHITEWATER - The Mission Springs Water District Board have a unanimous 5-0 approval to the County of Riverside regarding its proposed HUB Jail on Monday.

Whether the facility slated for construction in Whitewater would have enough water was key in giving the project the "green light."

"The County has demonstrated that the HUB Jail will have enough water to operate and that the presence of this facility will not create a drawdown of the water basin or impact water quality," a statement read.

Developers say the HUB jail will create more than 2,000 construction jobs during its first phase of construction. Construction materials such as cement, steel, block, miles of wirings, plumbing lines and fixtures, roofing material, roofing materials, and a host of electronic equipment will be purchased for the project and help create more jobs from those industries supplying materials for jail construction. With unemployment in the surrounding area running 33.7%, the jobs will be valuable commodities.

The jail is designed to alleviate overcrowding at other jails in Riverside County, where inmates are often released because there aren't enough beds.

Riverside County remains under a permanent federal court order to release inmates in its custody when it does not have a bed for an inmate. The current operational bed capacity for county jails rests around 3,000.

The County is expected to release it environmental report on the HUB Jail later this week.

Construction on the HUB Jail is not set to begin for several years.