“Many of the wars of the twentieth century were about oil, but wars of the twenty-first century will be about water unless we change the way in which we manage it.”—Dr. Ismail Serageldin, former vice president of the World Bank
The Colorado River Basin supplies water to seven states: Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and California as well as to our southern neighbor, Mexico. A 1922 agreement between these seven states and Mexico allocated water fairly equitably over the years, although Native American tribes were not included in the agreement.
Today, a 23-year drought caused by global warming and overuse by agricultural industries have dwindled the supply leaving the two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell in Arizona and Utah, and Lake Mead in Nevada, at dangerously low levels affecting over 40,000,000 people and five and a half million acres of farmland in the west and southwest, as well as potential loss of hydroelectric power supplied by the dams.
This has led to tension between states and between urban and agricultural areas within states over water allocation. As global warming continues disrupting water cycles, drying up fresh water sources, and wasteful agricultural practices persist, scarcity will threaten millions more while providing opportunity for Wall Street hedge fund vultures to swoop in, buying up land and the water rights connected to the land, for profit.
This is the concern now in Colorado. According to a CBS News report about investors snapping up Colorado River water-rights, a New York-based investment firm, Water Asset Management, headquartered in Manhattan, has bought at least $20 million worth of land in Western Colorado since 2017, making it one of the largest landowners in the Grand Valley. (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-investors-snapping-up-colorado-river-water-rights-betting-big-on-an-increasingly-scarce-resource/)
The hedge fund, founded in 2005, says it invests exclusively in assets and companies that ensure water supply and quality. In 2021, its co-founder and president, Matthew Diserio, called water in the United States “a trillion-dollar market opportunity.” The company’s website states, “scarce clean water is the resource defining this century, much like plentiful oil defined the last.”
CBS News interviewed rancher/farmer Joe Bernal and Andy Mueller, general manager of the Colorado River Conservation District. Bernal, whose family has been ranching in the valley for over 100 years, stated, “Would I have invited them here? No. Am I glad that there’s a big company here buying properties in our valley, under our system? Not really.”
Mueller believes Water Asset Management is more interested in the water rights that come with the 2500 acres they purchased next to Bernal’s ranch. “I view these drought profiteers as vultures,” Mueller said. “They’re looking to make a lot of money off this public resource. Water in Colorado, water in the West, is your future. Without water, you have no future.”
Since the deadline for signing an updated compact has passed, with only California holding out, the federal government will most likely have to step in to guarantee how water is allocated to the people in these states.
The people must pay attention to whatever agreements are put forth, look out for their interests, and demand that water be protected as a common good.
Corporations and the government representatives they have successfully lobbied, will use scarcity, whether artificially manufactured by corporations or the result of natural forces, to try and divide us with the purpose of allowing the vultures to amass huge fortunes at our expense unless we unite around our common needs. None of us can survive without water. We must protect it by keeping it in the commons.
More information can be found on these links:
LA Times 6-part series, “The Colorado River”
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/colorado-river-in-crisis-pt-1-a-dying-river/id1563351107?i=1000592862930
KTLA: The battle over water from the Colorado River heats up
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/battle-over-water-from-the-colorado-river-heats-up/
The Water Wars are Coming, SecondThought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnJ4gjVZqao
Pumping Mississippi Water West: Solution or Pipe Dream?https://investigatemidwest.org/2023/02/06/pumping-mississippi-river-water-west-solution-or-pipe-dream/
California water blog
https://californiawaterblog.com/2023/02/05/resistance-is-futile-agriculture-is-key-to-fixing-lower-colorado-river-water-shortages/
Arizona Water Chief Predicts Feds Will Step In On River Conflict
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3845967-arizona-water-chief-predicts-feds-will-step-in-on-colorado-river-conflict/
Cathy Talbott is a former telephone operator, a job lost to automation. She was a homeless mother of two and fights for welfare rights. A former co-host of a weekly community radio program out of Carbondale, IL, “Occupy the Airwaves,” Cathy is the Environmental Desk for the People’s Tribune.
