Los Angeles, CA — Cadiz Inc. (NASDAQ: CDZI) today reported the release of the Final Environmental Impact Report (“Final EIR”) for the Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project (“Cadiz Project”). The Final EIR was issued by the Santa Margarita Water District (“SMWD”), a Southern California water provider and lead agency of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) permitting process for the Project.
The Final EIR responds to comments received from the public regarding the draft environmental documentation that was issued by SMWD in December 2011. SMWD will hold a public hearing on July 25, 2012 regarding the Final EIR and consider certification of the document. Details about the hearing and a copy of the Final EIR are available at www.smwd.com. At the public hearing, SMWD will also consider approval of the Project’s Groundwater Management, Monitoring, Mitigation Plan and a Purchase and Sale Agreement. The Purchase and Sale Agreement between Cadiz and SMWD outlines economic terms for SMWD’s participation in the Project and establishes rights and responsibilities for Project implementation and operation.
The Cadiz Project will provide a new, reliable water supply for approximately 400,000 Southern Californians by capturing and conserving groundwater that will otherwise be lost to evaporation from a vast aquifer system beneath private property owned by Cadiz Inc. in California’s Mojave Desert. In its first phase, the Project will deliver up to an average of 50,000 acre-feet per year to Southern California water providers, including SMWD, Three Valleys Municipal Water District, Suburban Water Systems, Golden State Water Company, Jurupa Community Services District, and California Water Service Company. The Arizona & California Railroad Company, which owns and operates the railroad right-of-way to be used by the Project’s proposed water conveyance pipeline, will also receive water from the Project. A second potential future phase of the Project offers approximately one million acre-feet of aquifer storage capacity that can be used to carry-over, or “bank,” annual supplies, without the high rates of evaporative loss suffered by local surface reservoirs.
To safeguard the environment, the Project includes an extensive monitoring and mitigation program that will be independently enforced by the County of San Bernardino and SMWD. All Project facilities, including a wellfield and 43-mile pipeline to the Colorado River Aqueduct, will be built on private land and avoid any critical habitat.
About Cadiz Inc.
Founded in 1983, Cadiz Inc. is a publicly-held renewable resources company that owns 70 square miles of property with significant water resources and clean energy potential in eastern San Bernardino County, California. The Company is engaged in the development of water supply and storage projects and operates an organic farm in the Cadiz Valley. In 2009 Cadiz adopted a wide-ranging “Green Compact” to implement environmental conservation and sustainable management practices at its properties. For more information about Cadiz, visit www.missionaguacadiz.com.
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This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements related to the future operating and financial performance of the Company and the financing activities of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those reflected in the Company’s forward-looking statements include the Company’s ability to maximize value for Cadiz land and water resources, the Company’s ability to obtain new financing as needed, the receipt of positive feasibility and environmental approvals for the water project and other factors and considerations detailed in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.