The Project will be carried out as a public-private partnership between SMWD and Cadiz. Second, the managed lowering of groundwater levels will also establish dewatered space within the aquifer to facilitate the storage and recovery of imported water during the potential Phase II of the Project. Lowered groundwater levels at the end of pumping will further slow the loss of groundwater to evaporation at the Dry Lakes until these lowered groundwater levels recover as a result of natural recharge and restore the hydraulic gradient such that losses to evaporation return to pre-Project levels. First, the lowering of groundwater levels will cause existing groundwater gradients to reverse so that the Project will retrieve substantial quantities of potable groundwater located to the south and east of the wellfield that would otherwise flow into the saline groundwater underlying the Dry Lakes and evaporate. Additional extractions above annual native recharge are planned for the purpose of strategically lowering groundwater levels in the vicinity of the Project wellfield to realize two essential Project benefits that are not available under existing conditions. The full term of the Project’s operation, including Phase I and Phase II, shall be limited to 50 years.ĭuring operations, the initial extraction of an annual average of up to 50,000 afy is designed to capture annual native recharge plus groundwater in storage that is migrating toward the Bristol and Cadiz Dry Lakes. Phase II is not proposed at this time and will be subject to subsequent environmental and regulatory review. Phase II of the Project, if proposed and implemented, would use available aquifer capacity to operate a one million acre-feet groundwater storage bank to facilitate the storage and recovery of imported water over the Project’s 50-year term. Phase I of the Project provides for the initial extraction of groundwater in amounts not to exceed an annual average of up to 50,000 acre-feet per year (afy) 2 from a wellfield in the area within and south/southwest of the Fenner Gap. It will provide reliable water supply to the Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD) and other participating water agencies. The Project is a 50-year groundwater recovery, conservation and conjunctive use storage project located within the collective Fenner, Orange Blossom Wash, Bristol and Cadiz Watersheds in the Eastern Mojave Desert. The fundamental purpose of the Cadiz Valley Groundwater Conservation, Recovery, and Storage Project (Project) is to conserve and recover substantial quantities of groundwater that in the absence of the Project would otherwise evaporate.
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