A significant water infrastructure project that will provide clean, reliable and affordable water to underserved communities in Southern California.
The Urgency
A century ago, California built an extensive infrastructure of reservoirs and aqueducts – all based on predictable mountain snowmelt – to bring water to growing communities, routing the occasional excess to the ocean. However growing climate variability and unpredictability is forcing communities to rethink water supply solutions to ensure water access to all communities. Storing water in wet years for use in dry years and being able to move water from where it is to where it is needed in a responsible way is imperative as dry years are hotter and drier and wet years more extreme. Underground water storage is more important than ever in this new reality.
Project Overview
The Mojave Groundwater Bank is more than infrastructure; it is a lifeline for communities on the front lines of climate change. This groundbreaking public-private partnership brings together water agencies, Native American tribes, and the Fenner Gap Mutual Water Company to deliver what every community deserves: clean, reliable, and affordable water.
At Cadiz Ranch in eastern San Bernardino County, a managed aquifer system will conserve and store surplus water and then deliver it through converted fossil-fuel pipelines and existing corridors. What once carried oil and gas will soon carry life-sustaining water, a bold symbol of transition toward a more sustainable future. Construction begins in 2025, with water deliveries projected by end of 2026, making this one of the rare shovel-ready solutions capable of addressing California’s water crisis today.
Anchored at the base of a 2,000-square-mile watershed in the Mojave Desert, the project draws on one of the largest known freshwater aquifers in the nation, estimated to hold 30 to 50 million acre-feet of high-quality groundwater.
After rigorous environmental review, San Bernardino County authorized a sustainable yield plan allowing up to 2.5 million acre-feet to be responsibly withdrawn over 50 years. The project will also store up to 1 million acre-feet of imported water, giving agencies the ability to save in wet years and access reserves in dry ones. Together, these measures strengthen long-term water security for underserved regions.
[footnote – 1 acre-foot = 326,000 gallons, or the annual water supply for 2 average households (8 people)]
The Mojave Groundwater Bank holds more than twice the full capacity of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest surface reservoir, which now holds less than half its design volume due to prolonged drought.
The project is dedicated to sustainably capturing, storing, supplying, and delivering water resources - improving long-term water reliability while minimizing environmental impact.
2.5 Million
acre-feet of new water supplies
30 Million
300+ Miles
400,000
people served annually
Communities Served
The Mojave Groundwater Bank will provide critical access to new water resources and emergency water supplies to dozens of communities in need across Inland Southern California, including the Antelope Valley, Hi-Desert, Morongo Basin, Inland Empire, and the Coachella Valley, and improve water access across the Southwest.
Project Timeline
The assets for the project have been developed over decades. 20 years of permitting and litigation have been successfully completed, and the project is expected to be fully operational by 2027. Find out more.
How It Works
The project is a result of extensive scientific research, innovative engineering, and reimagined infrastructure.
How It Works
The project is a result of extensive scientific research, innovative engineering, and reimagined infrastructure.
The Fenner Valley Watershed
Every minute, water that could sustain families, farms, and ecosystems is lost to evaporation at the dry lakes of Fenner Gap. The Mojave Groundwater Bank transforms this loss into opportunity by capturing and preserving that water for communities that too often go without. Fed by natural recharge of up to 50,000 acre-feet annually from mountain runoff, the system combines modern water banking with ongoing monitoring and active recharge efforts to protect both people and the desert environment for generations to come.
The watershed above the Mojave Groundwater Bank forms a closed hydrologic basin, where rain and snowmelt from the New York Mountains—at elevations of up to 7,500 feet—slowly travel underground to the Cadiz Valley, where they ultimately evaporate at the surface. The project conserves this water by capturing it before it’s lost to evaporation, creating an immediately available supply within the Colorado River Basin—something no other project offers today.
Unique Facilities
The Mojave Groundwater Bank will deliver new water supply and provide needed regional storage in an underserved corner of California. The unique location of this prolific aquifer system and the availability of out of service pipelines and disturbed corridors allow the Mojave Groundwater Bank to interconnect for the first time Southern California’s two main sources of water supply– the State Water Project and the Colorado River System – expanding access to water across the Southwest while minimizing new disturbance.
Learn more about how the project will operate
Supporting a Secure Water Future
Smart Water Use
Capturing groundwater that would otherwise be lost to evaporation and sustainably providing it to communities in need.
Locally Controlled Supply
Providing improved water access to communities that have historically depended on shrinking, distant sources.
Drought Resilience
Enabling storage of up to 1 million acre-feet of water for agencies to bank surplus water in wet years and withdraw it during droughts.
Infrastructure Efficiency
Repurposing existing infrastructure to minimize environmental disruption, save time, and accelerate delivery.
Sustainable Environmental Protections
Economic Opportunity
Supporting a Secure Water Future
Smart Water Use
Capturing groundwater that would otherwise be lost to evaporation and sustainably providing it to communities in need.
Locally Controlled Supply
Providing improved water access to communities that have historically depended on shrinking, distant sources.
Drought Resilience
Enabling storage of up to 1 million acre-feet of water for agencies to bank surplus water in wet years and withdraw it during droughts.
Infrastructure Efficiency
Repurposing existing infrastructure to minimize environmental disruption, save time, and accelerate delivery.
Sustainable Environmental Protections
Economic Opportunity
Project Partners
Project Partners
Cadiz, Fenner Gap Mutual Water Company and the Fenner Valley Water Authority, in partnership with Native American Tribes, public agencies and water districts will construct, own, and operate the Mojave Groundwater Bank. The public-private partnership represents a landmark collaboration with Native American Tribes to build the first large-scale, tribal-owned water infrastructure project off tribal lands in U.S. history.