XML 49 R12.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.8
Long Term Water Assets
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Long Term Water Assets [Abstract]  
Long Term Water Assets
LONG TERM WATER ASSETS
Long term assets consist of water and water contracts held for future use or sale. The water is held at cost which includes the price paid for the water and the cost to pump and deliver the water. A portion of our water is currently held in a water bank on Company land in southern Kern County. Company banked water costs also include costs related to the right to receive additional acre feet of water in the future from the Antelope Valley East Kern Water Agency, or AVEK. The Company has also banked water within an AVEK owned water bank.
In recent years we have also been purchasing water for our future use or sale. In 2008 we purchased 8,393 acre-feet of transferable water and in 2009 we purchased an additional 6,393 acre-feet of transferable water, all of which is currently held on our behalf by AVEK. We also have secured State Water Project, or SWP, entitlement under long-term SWP water contracts within the Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District and the Dudley-Ridge Water District, totaling 3,444 acre-feet of SWP entitlement annually, subject to SWP allocations. These contracts extend through 2035. On November 6, 2013, the Company completed the acquisition of an assignment of a contract to purchase water from DMB Pacific, or DMB, that obligates the Company to purchase 6,693 acre feet of water each year from the Nickel Family, LLC, or Nickel, a California limited liability company that is located in Kern County. The aggregate purchase price was approximately $18,700,000 and was paid one-half in cash and one-half in shares of Company Common Stock. The number of shares of Common Stock delivered was determined based on the volume weighted average price of Common Stock for the ten trading days that ended two days prior to closing, which calculated to be 251,876 shares of Common Stock.
This Nickel water purchase is similar to other transactions the Company has completed over the last several years as the Company has been building its water assets for internal needs as well as for investment purposes due to the tight water environment within California.
The initial term of the water purchase agreement with Nickel runs through 2044 and includes a Company option to extend the contract for an additional 35 years. The purchase cost of water in 2014 was $656 per acre-foot. Purchase costs in 2015 and beyond are subject to annual cost increases based on the greater of the consumer price index and 3%.
The water purchased will ultimately be used in the development of the Company’s land for commercial/industrial development, residential development, and farming. Interim uses may include the sale of portions of this water to third party users on an annual basis until the water is fully used for the Company’s internal uses.
During the first quarter of 2014, we sold 6,000 acre feet of water totaling $7,390,000 with a cost of $4,388,000, which are recorded in income (expense) from water sales on the Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations.
Water contracts with the Wheeler Ridge Maricopa Water Storage District, or WRMWSD, and the Tejon-Castac Water District, or TCWD, are also in place, but were entered into with each district at inception of the contract and not purchased later from third parties, and do not have a related financial value on the books of the Company. Therefore there is no amortization expense related to these contracts. Water assets consist of the following:
(in acre feet, unaudited)
March 31, 2014
 
December 31, 2013
Banked water and water for future delivery
 
 
 
   AVEK water bank
13,461

 
12,280

   Company water bank
8,700

 
8,818

   AVEK water for future delivery
2,362

 
2,362

Total Company and AVEK banked water
24,523

 
23,460

   Transferable water with AVEK*
14,786

 
14,786

   Water Contracts
10,137

 
10,137

Total purchased water - third parties
49,446

 
48,383

   WRMWSD - Contracts with Company
15,547

 
15,547

   TCWD - Contracts with Company
5,479

 
5,479

   TCWD - Banked water contracted to Company
42,685

 
42,685

Total purchased and contracted water sources in acre feet
113,157

 
112,094

 
 
 
 
*Any transferable water with AVEK that is used by the Company or returned by AVEK to the Company will be returned at a 1.5 to 1 factor giving the Company use of a total of 22,179 acre feet.
($ in thousands)
March 31, 2014
 
December 31, 2013
Banked water and water for future delivery
$
4,779

 
$
4,779

Transferable water
8,988

 
8,988

Water Contracts (net of accumulated amortization of $3,175 and $2,837 at March 31, 2014 and December 2013, respectively)
33,625

 
33,804

Total long-term assets
47,392

 
47,571

less: Current portion
(1,351
)
 
(817
)
 
$
46,041

 
$
46,754