ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS FOR 
INNOVATIVE WATER PROGRAM RELEASE
Publication Marks 12-Month Intensive Effort

Santa Monica, CA – Cadiz Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCI) announced today that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California ("Metropolitan") and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") have released the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement ("DEIR/EIS") for the Cadiz Groundwater Storage and Dry-Year Supply Program ("Program"), a significant move towards implementation of this new water supply program for Southern California.

The Program, a public/private partnership between Metropolitan, the largest water wholesaler in Southern California and publicly-held Cadiz, is designed to help Southern California meet its current and future water supply needs by better managing its Colorado River resources. During wet years or periods of excess supply, Metropolitan would store Colorado River water in the aquifer system underlying the Company’s Cadiz Valley property in eastern San Bernardino County for withdrawal in later dry years. Metropolitan plans to store and withdraw a minimum of 700,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water. In addition to extracting the stored water, Metropolitan would also purchase a minimum of 1,500,000 acre-feet of existing groundwater over the 50-year term of the agreement, in accordance with the safe operation of the groundwater basin. The Program’s capital facilities will be sized to convey, for either storage or supply operations, approximately 150,000 acre-feet of water per year.

The DEIR/EIS was published on Friday, November 26, 1999. It contains an analysis of the Program’s purpose and need, provides a detailed technical description, evaluates existing environmental resources, examines the potential environmental impacts, and also identifies measures to mitigate such potential impacts.

According to federal and state regulations, the public will have the opportunity to provide comments on the document for the next 90 days. During this comment period, Metropolitan and BLM will conduct an additional series of public meetings to solicit input on information contained within the DEIR/EIS.  Following the close of the comment period, a Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement will be compiled and is anticipated to be brought to Metropolitan for final action in Spring 2000.  Following the successful completion of all environmental requirements, construction of the Program’s capital facilities can begin.

The DEIR/EIS incorporates and summarizes the intensive technical and environmental studies that have been undertaken since November 1998, when funding was first appropriated by both Metropolitan and Cadiz, and which must be completed prior to the start of construction.  This work included completing all required analyses of environmental resources (biological, cultural, paleontological, etc.), publishing legally-required notices of preparation, conducting the first public comment period and its accompanying public meetings, addressing initial comments provided by the public, constructing and operating a pilot spreading basin project that modeled the storage and extraction of water, performing geotechnical studies of the groundwater basin, and completing engineering studies to optimize the design of capital facilities.

"Publication of this environmental document is clearly a very significant step for everyone involved in the Cadiz/Metropolitan program," said Marvin Shaw, vice president of resource management for Cadiz Inc. "Not only does it mark the culmination of twelve months of rigorous engineering, hydrological, and environmental studies and analysis, but it moves us into the final stage of the environmental review process."

Founded in 1983, Cadiz Inc., is a publicly held water and agricultural resources firm.  With its subsidiary, Sun World International, Inc., Cadiz is one of the largest vertically integrated agricultural companies in California. The Company owns significant landholdings with substantial water resources throughout California.  Further information on the Company or the Program can be obtained by visiting its corporate web site at www.cadizinc.com.

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.  Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances 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 price and yield fluctuations in the agricultural operations, seasonality, timing and terms of various approvals required to complete the Program, and other factors and considerations detailed in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

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