The Stanttec Design and Engineering Firm will serve as an engineer of the Mojave Bank Bank project, designed to provide affordable water supplies to the California and Arizona desert communities.
Cadiz, the private company that led the project, announced the agreement at the end of February, saying that in a statement that Stantec will oversee the design, development and construction of the project, which, once completed, is expected to provide one million feet of underground storage and 2.5 million water supply acre.
The Mojave Subdestive Water Bank Bank is an aquifer system that has up to 50 million feet of water, about the capacity of Lake Mead and Lake Powell combined, according to companies. The project includes linking the reservoir to a 350 mile pipe network that connects both to the Colorado river aqueduct and California, making it the largest water infrastructure project in the southwest, according to Cadiz.
“ The variability of water supply resulting from climate change threatens long -term water safety throughout the western United States, and the water delivery system must be updated and expanded to meet the needs of our communities safely and reliable, ” said John Hanula, Sentec’s Senior Vice President, in a statement.
By virtue of the agreement, Stantec will help select the project contractor in a construction management delivery model. Cadiz did not provide an estimated date for its completion, but stated that it is expected that Stanec “bring the online project on an accelerated construction calendar.”
The project represents a significant incorporation into the 2,000 square meters in the eastern desert of Mojave, located about 40 miles north of the Colorado river aqueduct and 220 miles to the east of the California State Water Project facilities. The aquifer is naturally recharged by 1,000 years of rain and the snow of the surrounding mountains. The project is designed to capture the water that, in another way lost by evaporation and storing -by redistribution in the surrounding communities of the Mojave river basin, the Colorado river basin and the inner empire of California.
Also, the project of the Bank of the Waters will mark the first large -scale water infrastructure project located in the tribal lands of the native Americans. At the end of 2024, Cadiz had announced a collaboration with the tribes to build, possess and operate the project.
Typically, the tribes have defended water rights through initiatives with federal or state governments, which later supervise and work with private partners in the construction of the necessary infrastructure. In this agreement, the North -American Native Communities of the area chose to be company income members and operators, creating a collaborative model that could remodel how to manage water resources in the future.
Cadiz also announced the addition of a main investor, a public company he did not name, who has committed up to $ 175 million in capital at the Mojave Subdenod Water Co., a LLC recently established by Cádiz to build, possess and operate the groundwater banking project. In addition to this funding, Lytton Rancheria de la Tribe de California is also an investor and has agreed to invest up to $ 50 million in the project.
“The Cádiz’s collaboration approach to developing this Bank of Groundwater puts the tribal communities at the forefront of water delivery to the region, ensuring that decisions on the water supply of the region will be guided by those with deep connections with the Earth,” wrote David Sickey, former President of the Coushatta tribe and currently advised for energy and water projects, December in the Desert Desert Magazine.
