Daniel Herrera Carbajal
ICT

A plan to pump billions of gallons of groundwater from under the Mojave National National Monument is back in court – this time led by two tribes.

The plan was blocked by a federal court in 2022 but last month the Bureau of Land Management approved a new right-of-way grant for Cadiz Inc. to begin converting a natural gas pipeline to transport the water from an aquifer system located within the monument.

Now the Fort Mojave and Chemehuevi Indian Tribes have taken the plan back to the court.

“This is the Mojave Desert, and we are the Mojave people, the caretakers of this land, water and wildlife since time immemorial. Our Tribe has a solemn, sacred relationship with these resources that Cadiz, Inc., … is targeting for exploitation and profit,” said Fort Mojave Chairman Timothy Williams in a statement. “Their plan to pump and sell 25 times more groundwater each year than the aquifer can replenish would desecrate our traditional territories and any community sold this water would be left with an unreliable, unsustainable supply. The federal government’s permitting of Cadiz is not only negligent, but dangerous to the American Desert Southwest.”

Mojave Trails National Monument just east of Los Angeles, California spans 1.6 million acres and includes rugged mountain ranges, ancient lava flows and fossil beds, and spectacular sand dunes. Credit: Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.

Cadiz was granted the first right-of-way grant by BLM in the final weeks of the first Trump administration. The Native American Land Conservancy and and the National Parks Conservation Association sued the Department of Interior and BLM asserting that “Defendants (DOI and BLM) granted right-of-way without conducting the reviews required by (law) and with profound disregard for consultative processes.”

The United States District Court Central District of California sided with the plaintiffs and the grant was thrown out.

But on July 8 the Trump administration gave the project a new go-ahead. That prompted the new suit filed on July 28.

July’s suit argues that “BLM has violated multiple laws and regulations in granting the right-of-way for the Northern Pipeline to pump and transport water across federal lands as part of the Cadiz Project … at the expense of the ecological, cultural, sacred, and historic resources on federal public lands, and of the public, Tribes, and other people who enjoy, care for, rely on, and hold sacred those resources. “

The project, also known as Mojave Groundwater Bank, seeks to extract more than 50,000 acre-feet of water per year for 50 years, according to Cadiz.

An acre-foot is equivalent to 325,851 gallons of water.

That would total 2.5 million acre-feet, or more than 800 billion gallons of water extracted over the decades.

Daniel Leivas, chairman of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, told ICT the depletion of the aquifer would affect the wildlife in the area and the tribe’s way of life.

“The fear is, the depletion of this source will dry up all these life sources for the Indigenous plants and animals that are dependent on this water system,” he said.

Findings by the US Geological Survey estimate that the project’s extraction rate would exceed the aquifer’s rate of natural recharge by up to 25 times, according to the suit.

According to Mojave Groundwater Bank, the Fenner watershed, where they’ll be extracting the water, is made up of the Fenner, Bristol and Cadiz watersheds and is estimated to hold between 30-50 million acre-feet of groundwater in storage.

The most updated groundwater storage capacity figures from the California Department of Water Resources have the total storage capacity at under 17 million acre-feet.

“The Cadiz water mining project has threatened the Mojave Desert for decades. The Desert is our home and home of many of our non-human relatives. The foreign-backed Cadiz project would be disastrous for our communities. That is why NALC is once again standing with the Chemehuevi and Ft. Mojave Indian Tribes to oppose Cadiz with the hope that we can end this threat once and for all,” said NALC President Michael Madrigal, Cahuilla, in a statement.

Neal Desai, senior pacific regional director at the National Park Conversation Association told ICT the proposed project was destructive and unsustainable.

“They want to pump more water every single year than is replenished by rainfall. That means you’re mining the aquifer, you’re taking out far more water of this very limited, finite resource and doing it every year for 50 years. and that would lower the groundwater table. It would deplete this water source. It would destroy the springs,” he said.

Cadiz Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.

Recently, the Central Arizona Irrigation and Drainage District and Cadiz Inc. reached a memorandum of understanding to purchase up to 10,000 acre-feet of water per year for 50 years.

The agreement received support from multiple Arizona lawmakers who see it as a solution to water problems facing Arizona.

Derek McEachern, general manager at the irrigation and drainage district, said in a statement this agreement is a solution to the Colorado River water supply problem.

“Arizona agriculture needs new supplies, not just deeper cuts to existing supplies. The Mojave Groundwater Bank gives (the irrigation district) a path to secure firm, drought-resilient water that can help protect farms, families and the rural economy in Pinal County,” McEachern wrote. “We are pleased to work with Cadiz to advance a practical solution at a time when Colorado River shortages continue to challenge agricultural communities across Arizona.”

Desai told ICT the project will increase the water insecurity in the southwest.

“We should learn from what’s going on with the Colorado River. All this water was promised to communities and to states. But the reality is it doesn’t exist,” he said. “It’s on paper but it doesn’t exist in real life and they believe it makes sense to double down on the Colorado River crisis by proposing this project. It’s only going to make the crisis worse. It’s going to deepen the water insecurity that we have all across the American Southwest,” he said.

“It’s our duty to be stewards of the land. It’s our duty and our honor and privilege to speak on behalf of the land,” Chemehuevi Chairman Leivas told ICT.

The post Tribes sue Interior department over controversial groundwater pumping project appeared first on ICT.

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