Water solutions company Cadiz said that the US Bureau of Land Management had approved a final right-of-way grant, allowing the company to begin converting its 220-mile Northern Pipeline from natural gas transportation to water delivery, in a statement on Friday.
The approval authorizes the conversion and operation of the pipeline across federally managed land, the company said.
The pipeline is intended to transport water from Cadiz's Mojave Groundwater Bank to communities in California's San Bernardino County, including the High Desert and Inland Empire.
The company said the project is expected to provide a low-cost source of new water supplies for the drought-prone Southwest.
Cadiz acquired the buried steel pipeline from El Paso Natural Gas in 2020. The line previously operated under a 30-year right-of-way issued under the Mineral Leasing Act, which was renewed in 2020 and partially assigned to Cadiz in 2023.
Last year, Fenner Gap Mutual Water Company, a Cadiz affiliate established to manage the Mojave Groundwater Bank, applied for a new right-of-way under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to convert the pipeline from natural gas to water service and build pump stations and related facilities.
The BLM's decision clears a key regulatory hurdle for the pipeline conversion project.