A company that bought old railroad land in California's Mojave Desert three decades ago to grow citrus trees and grapevines has a controversial new business plan: selling groundwater.

Cadiz Inc. stands to reap $1 billion to $2 billion in revenue over the project's 50-year life, turning desert groundwater, a public resource, into a pool of private profit.

"I think we're setting a precedent here for the development of groundwater in the Mojave Desert," said hydrologist John Bredehoeft, who formerly worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and has been hired by environmental groups to review the project.

"It's taking a public resource that originates on public land, privatizing it and selling it back to the public," said Seth Shteir with the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the green groups challenging the plan. "This water is going to Orange County lawns and swimming pools. The desert is being asked to shoulder the burden."

Federal lands -- including a half-dozen wilderness areas -- surround the company's 34,000 acres of land. The 1.6 million-acre Mojave National Preserve lies about 15 miles to the north.

Cadiz officials say the project is a dependable alternative to water from Northern California and the Colorado River, which have been threatened by drought and environmental regulations.

"It is more reliable than anything out there," said Scott Slater, Cadiz's president and general counsel. "The environmental effects are nominal."

The company proposes a network of 30 wells, each reaching about 1,000 feet below the surface, that would pump groundwater from below the public lands. Cadiz plans to withdraw more water each year than is naturally replenished, lowering the groundwater table and depleting the aquifer, although estimates vary about the rate of replenishment and the impact on nearby public lands.

Cadiz has so far signed option agreements to sell up to 80 percent of the groundwater it anticipates pumping, causing consternation among long-standing opponents. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) last week called for a federal review of the project.

"California's Mojave Desert is a unique and special place ... that must be protected," she wrote, requesting a full environmental review of the project (Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times, May 16). -- AS