$403M Pipeline Pushes Mojave Groundwater Bank Into Construction

Water Projects $403M Pipeline Pushes Mojave Groundwater Bank Into Construction Cadiz Inc. recently advanced its Mojave Groundwater Bank project into the construction phase, establishing a definitive $403.3-million capital budget for its Northern Pipeline water conveyance facilities. In July, Cadiz affiliate Fenner Gap Mutual Water Co. executed the principal construction contracts using a construction management-at-risk delivery model. The 220-mile Northern Pipeline converts an idle natural gas steel pipeline into a high-pressure water conveyance system. Fresno, Calif.-based W.M. Lyles has been contracted to construct the pipeline pump and Mike Bubalo Construction of Baldwin Park, Calif. will be repairing and prepping the actual pipeline corridor. Design and engineering firm Stantec is serving as owner's engineer on the wider project, a role it took on in early 2025. Cadiz plans to transport groundwater from the Mojave Groundwater Bank through the pipeline to the California Aqueduct north of Los Angeles and bolster Southern California's freshwater resources. The Northern Pipeline is one leg of a 350-mile network; a separate element of the program would link the aquifer to the Colorado River Aqueduct. Cadiz estimates the total price of the effort will cost $800 million. RELATED Stantec to Lead Engineering of $800M Mojave Groundwater Bank Project The effort is part of a public-private partnership between public water agencies, Native American tribes and Cadiz Inc. The company announced its partnership with the tribes in late 2024, an arrangement under which they would help construct, own and operate the project as equity partners rather than through the federal or state governments. The Lytton Rancheria of California has committed as much as $50 million. "The public-private partnership business model is the best way to finance critical large-scale water infrastructure today," says Susan Kennedy, chair and CEO of Cadiz, in a news release. "It takes creative investment structures that leverage both public and private funding to build major infrastructure and lower costs for ratepayers." The signing of the construction contracts was preceded by a U.S. Bureau of Land Management decision granting a 50-year right-of-way permit to authorize the conversion and operation of the pipeline across federal lands. According to the firm, the ruling opens the door to seeking a $194-million government loan and local backing in San Bernardino. The project uses an aquifer system at Cadiz Ranch, which sits directly below a 2,000-sq-mi watershed in the eastern Mojave Desert. Cadiz says the system is one of the largest known freshwater aquifers in the U.S., holding as much as 50 million acre-ft — roughly the combined capacity of Lake Mead and Lake Powell. The company has said the completed bank would provide 1 million acre-ft of underground storage and 2.5 million acre-ft of new water supply. While Cadiz maps out its access to this massive reservoir, the project is also facing legal obstacles. On the same day the company announced its budget milestone, two federal lawsuits were filed against BLM challenging the pipeline's right-of-way. The suits—one from a coalition of Native American tribes and national parks groups, and another from the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity—argue the permit bypassed a full environmental review. Opponents claim pumping 25,000 acre-ft of water annually risks depleting groundwater, drying up fragile desert oases like Bonanza Spring and threatening sacred tribal lands.