The Cadiz Groundwater Storage and Dry-Year Supply Program involves a cooperative effort between Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Cadiz Inc. The purpose of the project was to recharge the underlying basin during the wet years for later recovery and transfer to supply water for Southern California during the dry years.

As part of the environmental process, three different alternative alignments were studied. HKA’s survey crews set aerial targets, obtained the aerial mapping, and performed cross sections with a width of 1,000 feet and at 1,000-foot intervals for three different pipeline alternatives, each approximately 36 miles in length over a variety of terrain. HKA located existing utilities on all proposed alignments.

The surveyed area was a former Patton training ground during WWII. Its current status is a remote part of the Desert Conservation Area of the Bureau of Land Management property near the state line with Arizona. HKA field crews had to recognize potential hazards such as live bombs and unspent ammunition in addition to environmentally sensitive plants and animals. Motorized access was strictly prohibited and survey crews completed the field work on foot, hiking up to five miles to set each of the 72 aerial targets. Safety issues included potential heat stroke, poisonous bites, and live ammunition. When live ammunition or bombs were found, HKA survey crews would provide the coordinates to the San Bernardino County Sherriff’s Department for retrieval and disposal.

HKA’s work products also included utility research and mapping, completion of GIS data importation and mapping, and preparation of an environmental constraints map overlaid with the three pipeline alignments.