Water District Not Material to Cadiz Water Project Implementation Decides to Take No Action on a Letter of Intent

LOS ANGELES, March 22, 2018 -- Today, Cadiz Inc. [NASDAQ:CDZI] (“Cadiz”, the “Company”) issued the following statement regarding a vote by the Board of the Upper San Gabriel Municipal Water District (“Upper District”) to take no action on a non-binding letter of intent to purchase 5,000 acre-feet from the Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project (“Cadiz Water Project”):

“This week the Upper District Board of Directors considered a non-binding Letter of Intent, or LOI, to purchase approximately 5,000 acre-feet of water from the Cadiz Water Project pursuant to a staff recommendation on the agenda for March 20, 2018.  The Project is already fully subscribed with 50,000 acre-feet of supplies reserved under contracts, option agreements and letters of intent, but engaged with Upper District due to their expressed need and a vote of support for the Project in December 2017.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the Company asked for the LOI item to be continued and Upper representatives agreed to hear the item at a future meeting instead. Contrary to costumary water board procedure, the item was unexpectedly taken up at the March 20 meeting without full representation by both sides and the Board ultimately voted to take no further action on the LOI at this time.  Their decision to not proceed with an LOI at this time is not material to Project implementation or permits and approvals. The Upper District is not an approving agency for the Project or necessary for Project construction.

The Cadiz Project has been fully reviewed and approved in accordance with CEQA and upheld by California’s Courts. The Project has all permits and approvals required to deliver a long-term annual average of 50,000 acre-feet per year for 50 years of reliable water supplies to Southern California and to construct its wellfield on the Company’s private property and a pipeline within an existing railroad right-of-way.”

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
[email protected]

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.