25 Jun Our Mojave Water Project Makes Good Sense
https://www.wsj.com/articles/our-mojave-water-project-makes-good-sense-11561398921
Dear Editor:
Cadiz will sustainably provide new water to 400,000 Californians. We’ve been approved under stringent environmental laws, upheld by the courts and validated through continued scientific analysis.
Cadiz operates a large agricultural property in California’s Mojave Desert at the base of a 1,300 square mile watershed with an aquifer system storing more water than Lake Mead. We currently irrigate the property with groundwater, but it’s a “tipping cup” and what we don’t use migrates to saline playas and evaporates—over 10 billion gallons lost annually. By managing the aquifer and this loss, Cadiz will sustainably provide new water to 400,000 Californians. We’ve been approved under stringent environmental laws, upheld by the courts and validated through continued scientific analysis.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s opposition isn’t new (Letters, June 7), and she never fails to quote a 20-year-old United States Geological Survey study to criticize our plans, not revealing the USGS signed-off on the original project in 2002. She also never discloses that San Bernardino County addressed her concerns by imposing strict limits on our groundwater use.
Allysia Finley correctly describes the senator’s history of changing the rules for our project (“A Flood of Regulations Threatens to Leave California Dry,” Cross Country, June 1). Sen. Feinstein has repeatedly sponsored laws that could be used to kill the project, not make it better. She imposed a federal appropriation that would force a federal review and simultaneously prohibit the U.S. government from being able to perform it. Now she’s asking California to essentially do the same.
California has a persistent water challenge—it can’t guarantee reliable, clean water to all residents. To solve this, there must be a fair process for consideration of solutions. When we change the rules, driven by politics, we further frustrate our water challenges, instead of actually helping those who need water the most.
Courtney Degener
Vice President, Cadiz Inc.
Los Angeles