Downtown water infrastructure company Cadiz Inc. has been trying for nearly 30 years to win permission to transport water from its Mojave Desert aquifer to water agencies throughout Southern California. Several times over the decades, the company has come close to starting construction, only to be thwarted by last-minute legal and permitting hurdles.
Now Cadiz once again appears to be close to starting construction on a pipeline that could convey its desert aquifer water to thirsty Southern California communities.
On Aug. 15, Cadiz announced it had secured its fifth water purchase agreement this year for water transport through its 220-mile northern pipeline, an idle natural gas pipeline the company acquired in 2020 from Colorado Springs, Colorado-based El Paso Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. That pipeline connects the Cadiz property in the Mojave Desert to a point south of Bakersfield that’s very close to the State Water Project aqueduct. It is designed to complement another pipeline Cadiz plans to build to connect its aqueduct to the Colorado River Aqueduct.
The latest purchase agreement with an unidentified water agency brings the total purchase agreements using water conveyed through that pipeline to 85% of the pipeline’s capacity, according to Cadiz’ announcement. Cadiz also indicated that by the end of the year it expects to execute purchase agreements involving the remaining 15% of the pipeline’s capacity.
“Executing a critical mass of water purchase agreements to support construction on the northern pipeline has been our primary objective this year,” said Cadiz Chief Executive Susan Kennedy.
According to the announcement, construction could start as early as next year to covert the pipeline to be able to carry drinkable water. And the first water deliveries through that pipeline could start sometime in 2026.
But this rosy timetable could prove yet another mirage for Cadiz. That’s because the pipeline is still under environmental review by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and faces opposition from a coalition of environmental groups.
Larry Kosmont, an El Segundo-based economic development consultant who was on the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California when Cadiz’ first water transfer plan came before that entity 25 years ago and who has tracked the project ever since, said he is optimistic that this time, progress could be real.
“I found this set of declarations the most promising that I’ve seen in all the years of following this project,” Kosmont said.
