. . . The true story (with plot twists) of how a private corporation is trying to water-mine the Mojave Desert - and how Pomona Valley got involved

By Pamela Casey Nagler
Photography Julian Lucas
Published 10/24/2022 12:00 Am PST

The story of Cadiz begins in the 1980s, when British investor Keith Brackpool arrived in California after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to securities trading in Britain.

In 1983, Brackpool teamed up with others to locate water sources for development and sale to municipalities. Studying satellite images with a geologist, he located an aquifer in the Mojave, and proceeded to buy up a patchwork of creosote scrub for the private corporation he founded: Cadiz, Inc.

Brackpool remains connected to Cadiz today. He was appointed to the board in 1986, served as CEO from 1991 to 2013, and as board chair from 2001 to 2022. As founder & chair of Cadiz, Brackpool makes $626,111 a year. There are no executives at Cadiz getting paid more.

In the 1990s, Brackpool hatched a plan to store trillions of gallons of Colorado River water beneath the Cadiz tract and to extract water from its underlying aquifer that they would ship to California neighborhoods via a pipeline. He began courting the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the agency which serves 26 Southland public water agencies, including our local Three Valleys Municipal Water District that serves the communities of Pomona, Claremont, LaVerne, San Dimas, Glendora, Covina, West Covina, Charter Oak, Hacienda Heights, Diamond Bar, Walnut, City of Industry, La Puente and Rowland Heights.

Although MWD seriously considered the partnership, in 2002, it bailed. They said that the project lacked economic feasibility and the requisite natural resources.

Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik acknowledged the scheme had “a sort of shimmering authenticity, like a desert mirage.” But while Cadiz promoted the project as an answer to our water shortage, the Colorado River simply has no surplus to store.

In 2005, Cadiz sued the Metropolitan Water District for "stopping the project in its entirety,” costing MWD $3.1 million and 3 ½ years of legal resources. It was a lawsuit that MWD ultimately won.

However, none of this stopped Cadiz from continuing to propose new plans, seek new investors and partners. From 2011 to the present, according to OpenSecrets.org, Cadiz has spent nearly 7 million dollars lobbying government officials. Open Secrets calls the majority of Cadiz' lobbyists ‘revolving door’ lobbyists - that is, lobbyists who used to work for the government.

In 2009, Cadiz proposed supplying water to Southern California neighborhoods, pumped from their Cadiz aquifer “before it evaporates,” and delivered via a pipeline. In 2012, Orange County’s Santa Margarita Water District approved Cadiz’ environmental documents. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors followed suit.

Thus began Three Valley’s involvement with Cadiz. That year, Three Valleys voted to “reserve supply and storage from the [Cadiz] project in the event it is constructed,” wrote Three Valleys board member Brian Bowcock in his October 7, 2022 COURIER Readers’ Comment.

In the meantime, Cadiz faced several lawsuits from various environmental groups.

In 2015, the LA Times’ Bettina Boxall wrote that, “Cadiz has acknowledged that over the long term, the project will extract more groundwater than is replenished by nature.”

At this time, federal scientists expressed concern that the operation could dry up springs vital to wildlife on the nearby Mojave National Preserve and other public lands. Experts disagreed over exactly how much groundwater there is underlying the Cadiz tract, how much the company could legally pump out, and how pumping could affect neighboring aquifers with the contamination of carcinogenic minerals.

In 2015, the Metropolitan Water District continued to refuse to have any ties to Cadiz. Their official statement, "We are not pursuing any negotiations or conversations at all.”

That same year, United States Senator Dianne Feinstein voiced her opposition, declaring it folly to draw down the aquifer. “I remain concerned the Cadiz project could damage the Mojave Desert beyond repair … We need to use water more responsibly, not less, and the Cadiz project is a bad idea.”

Jay Cravath, cultural director of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, warned that pumping water at Cadiz would take water from springs on the tribe's ancestral lands. He said that the company is using "fuzzy math" to justify its goals. “It is greedy and narcissistic of them to take what is there from its natural and rightful place,” Cravath said.

In 2016, appointees of the Trump administration were determined to waive environmental concerns and fast-track projects like Cadiz, and, in a momentous decision, the Bureau of Land Management approved Cadiz’ pipeline permit.

As a result of this decision, in June 2019, the Three Valleys Board approved a study of the Cadiz Water Project’s impact on nearby Bonanza Spring, the largest fresh water spring system in the Mojave. This, in spite of the fact that, one year prior, in 2018, two scientific studies were published in Hydrology and Environmental Forensics that substantiated that nearby Bonanza Spring is, in fact, connected to the aquifer that Cadiz wants to pump, and that Cadiz’s proposal to pump the aquifer is unsustainable. According to the study in Hydrology, Cadiz is planning to pump 10 to 25 times more each year than is annually replenished. Water-mining at Cadiz’ proposed level would most likely, in almost every scenario, cause Bonanza spring to dry up.

While additional environmental review sounds appropriate, the study that Three Valley’s voted to support does not meet the standards of unbiased, peer-reviewed analysis. Led by Anthony Brown of Aquilogic, Inc., a longtime advocate for Cadiz, his Aquilogic study has all the earmarks of an “in-house” promotion. In May of 2015, Brown wrote an op-ed for San Bernardino’s Press Enterprise, “Time to Get the Cadiz Project Flowing.”

“Their concerns are that a private corporation should not be able to degrade lands, flora and fauna held in the public trust.”

Just last month, on September 13, a federal court threw out Cadiz’ pipeline permit, stating it was approved without tribal consultation or a proper review of the environmental impacts on nearby national parks, national monuments and Native American sacred sites. Their concerns are that a private corporation should not be able to degrade lands, flora and fauna held in the public trust. Representatives from various organizations, including the Native American Land Conservancy, National Parks Conservation Association’s California Desert Program, Mojave National Preserve Conservancy and Sierra Club, among others, have lauded this decision.

Again, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein weighed in:

“This is a major win for the Mojave Desert. For decades, Cadiz has tried to avoid the federal permitting process in order to drain a vital desert aquifer. If successful, it would rob the desert of its most precious resource: water. Everything that makes our desert special – from the iconic Joshua trees and breathtaking wildflower blooms to the majestic bighorn sheep and rare desert tortoises – would be lost.”

Just one week after the federal court decision, the Three Valleys Board emerged from a closed session, announcing that it had voted to terminate its role in the Cadiz study. While this sounds like something to celebrate, board member Bowcock reminded us that walking away from the Cadiz study may expose Three Valleys to legal action. “They’re going to sue us. And rightfully so,” he said.

Thus far it appears Cadiz hasn’t produced the study, nor have they paid the more than $1 million they promised to Three Valleys. Differing amounts have been mentioned, but it’s very difficult for the public to determine what has or hasn’t been paid. Bowcock told the COURIER “We never did see it … We never received $805,000.”

Cadiz’ official response to September’s federal court ruling is “it will have no impact” on the completion of what they now call the “Cadiz Water Conservation and Storage Project.”

Cadiz plans on moving forward, seeking new investors and new partnerships. However, their press release includes the disclaimer that these kinds of investments and partnerships come with “significant risks and uncertainties.”

Stay tuned.

Pamela Casey Nagler is a Claremont resident.