The Trump administration is reviving a decades-old plan to tap groundwater beneath California’s Mojave Desert and pipe it to Arizona, raising new environmental concerns amid deepening water shortages in the West.
Annie Snider and Camille von Kaenel report for POLITICO.
In short:
- Facing shrinking Colorado River supplies, Arizona water officials are exploring a controversial proposal by Cadiz Inc. to draw from a desert aquifer in California and shift the water across state lines.
- The Interior Department has expressed early support for the project, called the Mojave Groundwater Bank, while Cadiz promotes it as a drought resilience solution for the Southwest.
- Long-standing environmental opposition persists in California, where critics argue the plan risks harming desert ecosystems and circumventing local regulatory authority.
Key quote:
“It’s not surprising that an administration that wasted over two billion gallons of water under the guise of wildfire response thinks it’s a good idea to overdraft a desert aquifer that supports federally protected land.”
— Neal Desai, senior program director for the National Parks Conservation Association
Why this matters:
Tapping ancient aquifers in arid landscapes comes with major ecological and political trade-offs. Groundwater beneath the Mojave Desert accumulates slowly — over centuries — and supports fragile ecosystems including Joshua trees and endangered species. Removing large volumes of this water could collapse habitats and dry up springs that sustain wildlife and national parks. At the same time, Western states are running out of options as the Colorado River continues to shrink under pressure from climate change, overuse, and prolonged drought.
Read more: Trump administration pauses billions in funding for Colorado River conservation
