Agreement will provide water from Cadiz project for housing

Cadiz, Inc. and Fenner Gap Mutual Water Company have signed an agreement with Soltra Communities California LLC to deliver 1,275 acre-feet of water per year from the Cadiz Water Supply and Storage Project.

This is the first time Cadiz has contracted with a housing developer for water supply. The water will be delivered through exchanges of water with regional water contractors utilizing the Company’s Northern Pipeline, a 220-mile natural gas pipeline originally built to transport oil from the California coast to Texas oil refineries.

“We need water to solve the housing crisis in California,” said Susan Kennedy, CEO of Cadiz, Inc. “We are proud to work with innovative companies like Solstra who are at the forefront of building sustainable communities with safe neighborhoods and affordable homes for working families.”

Solstra, is pursuing development of up to 4,000 sustainable housing units, parks, trails, and open space, near Vandenburg Space Force Base. Under the terms of the Solstra Agreement, water will be made available to the development via the Coastal Branch of the State Water Project through an exchange with one or more contractors of the California State Water Project.

Cadiz anticipates final development of the Northern Pipeline conversion project will occur in 2024, with construction beginning in 2025 and commencement of water delivery as early as 2026.

Execution of the Solstra Agreement puts Cadiz’s Northern Pipeline at 65 percent of capacity under contract.