Gulp...another plan to suck the desert dry

So-Cal Sprawlers seek water from valley near the Amboy Craters in the Mojave Desert

the Cadiz water project is back!

Rejected in 2002 by the big water agency in So-Cal, the Metropolitan Water District, several smaller urban water sellers are now backing the project to "mine" water from a remote desert valley to provide water for 400,000 more people in the L.A.-Orange county areas.

http://www.pe.com/local-news/san-bernardino-county/san-bernardino-county-headlines-index/20111206-desert-environmental-review-on-water-storage-plan-released.ece

"An environmental report has been released for a controversial plan to pump water from ancient underground basins in the eastern Mojave Desert and store Colorado River supplies there for delivery to Riverside County and elsewhere in Southern California.
The $225 million Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project would involve building 44 miles of pipeline to carry water in surplus years from the Colorado River Aqueduct to the company’s property, which lies between the Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park.
In dry years, water would be pumped from the aquifer underneath the 35,000 acres owned by Cadiz Inc..."

More on local hearings in January and February of 2012 are in the above article.

(click on maps to enlarge)

TO READ THE EIR:
http://www.smwd.com/operations/cadiz-project-draft-eir.html