Cadiz CEO Issues Call to Action on California Water Supply Crisis

LOS ANGELES, March 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Cadiz Inc. (NASDAQ: CDZI) (“Cadiz”, the “Company”), a California business dedicated to sustainable water and agricultural projects, issued a statement from Company CEO Scott Slater on the heels of World Water Day as California faces another dry year.

“Today, most Californians find themselves staring down another drought declaration. This is exacerbated by the reality that more than 1 million Californians are without reliable access to clean, affordable water. Climate change is telling us limits on traditional supplies can and will continue and we must be innovative in our work to move water between communities that need it and to ensure it can happen safely and successfully in any hydrological year.

As Californians, we embrace our duty to use water efficiently. Water conservation is woven into the ethic of Californians, especially in newer generations. And here in California, it’s the law because the voters adopted a constitutional amendment requiring the efficient capture, distribution and use of water. That effort has proven wildly successful by reducing consumption by hundreds of thousands of acre feet.

But drought-induced conservation, or mandatory rationing, hurts the most vulnerable of our citizens. When water sales are reduced through rationing, these fixed costs are spread over lower volumes and rates spike. Consumers pay more for less water – the least common-sense answer to this problem – impacting those on fixed incomes. Such shortages and corresponding rate spikes can often be prevented by meaningful investments in supply, storage and conveyance instead of relying on cutbacks and hoping for the next wet year.

From the start, Cadiz saw the extraordinary need to address these persistent challenges and improve the conditions and quality of the life of Californians. Mark Twain famously said, ‘Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over,’ and while the fighting ensued in California, Cadiz sensed that with innovation and creativity, there could be solutions in place of conflict. Cadiz land position, water resources and infrastructure are unique, and we believe Cadiz is the only private sector company in California that has such an opportunity to help address that the State’s supply, storage and conveyance needs with cost-effective solutions. Our team dug in and sought to replace a vexing and rancorous policy debate with visionary answers.