The tab to defend San Bernardino County against nine lawsuits opposing a pipeline that project environmentalists say will drain a swath of the Mojave Desert of precious groundwater, grew to $1.5 million Tuesday, after county supervisors approved an increase in legal costs. The board authorized increasing its contract to fight lawsuits, which allege the county violated state and federal environmental laws and San Bernardino County’s own Desert Groundwater Management Plan by approving the Cadiz pipeline project. Los Angeles-based Cadiz, Inc. and the Santa Margarita Water District have teamed to pump groundwater from aquifers near the Mojave National Preserve over a 50-year period. The water would be diverted via a 43-mile pipeline to the Colorado River Aqueduct and stored, then sold to residents and businesses in south Orange County, and Rancho Santa Margarita. Cadiz owns 45,000 acres in eastern San Bernardino County. Cadiz and the Santa Margarita Water District plan to pump 50,000 acre feet of groundwater from the aquifers annually. Project opponents say Cadiz overestimated the amount of annual precipitation that would recharge the groundwater basins.
