Mojave River Pipeline and State Water Project Turnout

Encompassing an area of about 4,800 square miles, the Mojave Water Agency includes the communities of Hesperia, Apple Valley, Victorville, and Barstow and is located generally adjacent to the Mojave River in the high desert area of Southern California.

The agency’s Regional Water Management Plan, which Bookman-Edmonston (B-E), a division of GEI Consultants, Inc., prepared, is a dynamic planning document intended to guide future development and utilization of the water resources of the area, which is in a state of overdraft.

B-E was subsequently selected by the agency to prepare CEQA compliance documents and mitigation plans and to plan, design, and manage the construction of the Mojave River Pipeline, a conveyance facility originating at the California Aqueduct and continuing downstream to the area near Newberry Springs. This conveyance facility provides the backbone system for the delivery of water to purveyors and for groundwater recharge. Potential recharge sites located adjacent to the Mojave River channel were also identified for purposes of the regional plan with consideration given to water quality concerns. The pipeline consists of 65 miles of 39- and 36-inch-diameter pipeline, hydroelectric facilities, and groundwater recharge facilities. B-E provided design services for Phase IA, which included over eight miles of 39-inch diameter pipeline.

Construction was initiated in February 1997 and the completion ceremony was in April 1999.