California is experiencing critical water problems: here’s a proposed solution.

Anyone who lives in California knows that we are experiencing the worst drought in decades. We get most of our water from melting snow emanating from the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. But lower precipitation over the past few years has meant less snow in these mountains each winter, resulting in a critical shortage of water in most of southern California.

A Los Angeles-based water company, Cadiz Inc., believes it has a solution to the problem: it has purchased land in California’s Mojave Desert, and has made a deal with socal water agencies to pump water from below the ground on land the company owns in the Mojave’s Fenner Gap and transport it by pipeline to metro Los Angeles. The company plans to build a pipeline from the Fenner Gap and merge the water into the Colorado River Aqueduct, which will then deliver the water to southern California.

Not Everyone Thinks This Is A Good Idea

The project is not without controversy, with detractors including ranchers, politicians, and environmental activists. Even California Senator Diane Feinstein is eyeing the project. Detractors have stated that a private company should not have the right to pump subterranean water from aquifers that are believed to be publicly-owned assets. Supporters of the project, including the publicly-traded company’s investors, feel this may be the solution to California’s water problems.

Read the entire article at BloombergBusinessWeek here.