LOS ANGELES, March 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Cadiz Inc. (NASDAQ:CDZI) (“Cadiz”, the “Company”) is pleased to announce that a diverse group of leading business associations in California, including the Valley Industry Commerce Association (VICA), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) California, Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce, Greater Riverside Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, have joined nearly 100 elected officials and organizations representing business, civic, agriculture and labor to support the Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project (Cadiz Water Project), a public-private partnership with Southern California water providers to create a new, reliable and much-needed water supply for local communities.
“Supporting Cadiz was an easy decision for our organization to make because of the robust benefits that this project will provide to many Southern California communities that are primarily Latino and are more susceptible to rising water costs,” said Dave Rodriguez, state president at LULAC California. “When our local community water districts have access to clean, environmentally safe and reliable sources of water, Latinos will be better served and protected from volatile prices as climate change threatens to bring longer periods of drought to Southern California.”
Stuart Waldman, president of VICA, said in support, “Our decision to support the Cadiz Water Project is grounded in the facts that this project is needed to create a long-term water supply for thirsty San Fernando Valley communities and that it will create thousands of good-paying jobs. The benefits are clear: Cadiz is a well-vetted project that will ensure Southern California has access to a new, environmentally sustainable supply of locally controlled water for the long-term.”
Scott Slater, Cadiz CEO, welcomed the new support and added, “Water supply reliability is a key factor in keeping water rates stable and affordable for Southern California communities. The Cadiz Project aims to offer water supply reliability to communities most severely impacted by drought and uncertainty, and we look forward to continuing to work with our stakeholders and these five great organizations to ensure all communities have access to a reliable water supply.”
Through the conservation of groundwater presently lost to evaporation at the base of a vast watershed in eastern San Bernardino County, the Cadiz Water Project will create a new, local water supply that can serve up to 400,000 people a year in Southern California. In a second phase, the Project offers underground storage capacity where surplus water can be stored until needed in future dry and drought years. The Project is expected to create and support up to 6,000 jobs over two phases of construction and generate more than $6 billion in economic benefits for Southern California water ratepayers.
Project operations will be governed by a comprehensive groundwater management plan enforced by San Bernardino County that will continually monitor Project operations. The Project will be constructed on private property owned by the Company and within existing, disturbed corridors and will not harm the environment. The Project successfully completed a robust review in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the toughest environmental protection law in the nation, and the Project’s CEQA approvals and groundwater management plan were upheld and sustained by California’s Courts.
To learn more about the Cadiz Water Project, visit www.cadizwaterproject.com.
For a complete list of Cadiz Water Project supporters, visit www.cadizwaterproject.com/project-support.
About Cadiz
Founded in 1983, Cadiz Inc. is a publicly-held renewable resources company that owns 70 square miles of property with significant water resources in Southern California. The Company maintains an organic agricultural development in the Cadiz Valley of eastern San Bernardino County, California and is partnering with public water agencies to implement the Cadiz Water Project, which over two phases will create a new water supply for approximately 400,000 people and make available up to 1 million acre-feet of new groundwater storage capacity for the region. Cadiz abides by a wide-ranging “Green Compact” focused on environmental conservation and sustainable practices to manage its land, water and agricultural resources. For more information, please visit www.cadizinc.com
Contact:
Courtney Degener
cdegener@cadizinc.com
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements related to the future operating and financial performance of the Company and the financing activities of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those reflected in the Company’s forward-looking statements include the Company’s ability to maximize value for Cadiz land and water resources, the Company’s ability to obtain new financing as needed, the receipt of additional permits for the water project and other factors and considerations detailed in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.