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East Mojave groundwater basin might hold more than Lake Mead, CH2M Hill geologists say; Really? say bloggers

Posted by: Maven on February 9, 2010 at 8:28 am

Colorado Desert #2 02-2008 smallerThat’s a picture taken from the desert in the vicinity of the proposed Cadiz project. Do you think there’s an aquifer the size of Lake Mead underneath that desert? Apparently so, some say in today’s story from the Riverside Press Enterprise:

“More water could exist below privately owned valleys in the eastern Mojave Desert than in all of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, according to a geological study released Monday by the company that hopes to tap the vast supply.

The study by CH2M Hill, a Colorado-based environmental consulting firm, also estimated that rain and snowmelt add about 32,000 acre-feet of water a year into the aquifer below the Cadiz Valley and nearby areas. That’s more than three times as much as previous estimates, a company official said.

“We always believed that this is a significant water resource, but having these findings, we are now able to point to the science behind it,” said Courtney Degener, investor relations manager for the Los Angeles-based Cadiz Inc. … “

Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

It’s the same old story, says the Chance of Rain blog:

” … Environmental reviews carried out ten years ago by the Department of Interior, and now available through the Pacific Institute, reveal what US Geological Survey hydrogeologists called “gross exaggeration” by Cadiz of the amount of water available. Their estimates of the sustainable yield, which were roughly 15 times lower than Cadiz’s, may be found in Volume II of the federal review.

But since signing on as Cadiz chief counsel last year, Southern California water lawyer Scott Slater has argued that those reviews no longer apply. Everything about the project is new, he told Larry Mantle on KPCC’s “Air Talk” last September. It’s now a “conservation” project, he said.

The odd thing is, it turns out from today’s new release about the new study for the new conservation project, the amount of water they hope to mine from the desert is exactly the same as found grossly excessive by the original environmental impact review. … “


Read more from the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

The Mojave Desert blog says there’s trouble ahead:

“That’s right folks, if you are special enough to have access to ample capital, financing and real estate in the Mojave you can lay claim to thousands of acre-feet of water (1 acre foot = 325,851 gallons) deposited underneath the Mojave Desert, and earn $50 million dollars per year for as long as the water lasts, according to a Business Week article.

Unfortunately, this treasure hunt can impact the wildlife and people of the Southwest long after the treasure is spent. Cadiz Inc, which has been growing lemons and raisins on some of its Mojave land as it conducted studies to ascertain the volume of subterranean water it could sell, is planning to pump that water as soon as it can manage the paper work. … “

Read more from the Mojave Desert Blog by clicking here.

February 9, 2010 · Filed Under Groundwater, Southern California

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