I live near Lake Superior — the big lake that holds 10% of the world’s freshwater. Last year, a company tried to open a bottling plant to sell the water. Residents revolted, and it was shot down… for now.
In Cibola, AZ, the Colorado River flows along the city’s edge after having provided some 40 million people with their water needs. But the river is drying up, so investment firms have moved in to buy land along the river that comes with water rights. Those Wall Street firms are splitting off the water rights and selling them separately from the land, usually to developers. Local officials are rebelling, but they will probably lose.
A resident who is losing her water source in another Arizona town, Rio Verde Foothills, described her experience in this article: “Every time I brush my teeth, I think, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t imagine that I’m not going to have water to brush my teeth,’” Deangelis told CNN… “To think, I have this beautiful home and I’m not going to be able to live here because water is not going to be approved and provided to my home is just incredibly unnerving and stressful.”
It’s not hard to feel the desperation. With no water, she can’t live there. She also can’t sell the house without water. Her investment will be lost, and she will need to relocate.
Welcome to the water wars.
Towns are pitted against other towns, neighbors against neighbors, cities against Wall Street. They are fighting over a dying resource. Wall Street is going to win again.
What’s unnerving is the cause: There isn’t enough water in the Colorado River. The river has been declared a tier 1 water shortage by the Federal government for the first time ever. Tucson gets 82% of its water from the river, and Las Vegas gets 90% of its water from the same river. Altogether, the river meets the water needs of 40 million people. But it is drying up. Water levels are plummeting due to climate change. The effects are now obvious.
Last August, Lake Mead was filled to only 34% of its capacity. Lake Powell is filled to only 25% of its capacity. With shortages obviously in the making, Wall Street licks its chops. Lower future supply means high future prices, so they are buying now.
The separation of water rights from land rights has precedent in mineral rights and timber rights — it is an old Wall Street trick. In Minnesota, you can own land but not the trees on the land, which means that the company with timber rights can clearcut your land because they own the trees. You still get the land, but who would want it without the forest? It’s absurd. In Kentucky, the same is true for mineral rights, especially coal. Own some land on a mountaintop? They can strip mine your land by removing the mountaintop, taking the coal, and giving you back the land with nothing on it. Now, in Arizona, you’ll be able to buy land next to a river whose water you cannot touch or drink because the rights were stripped and sold.
But as a nation, the problem is much bigger. As the Colorado River continues to dry up, one of two things will happen. Either there will be schemes to transport water from places like the Great Lakes to meet the needs of the desert people, or there will be a mass migration of water refugees from the southwest to places where water is plentiful. People cannot live without water.
What would the United States do if 40 million people — water refugees — had to relocate? They’d search for places with plenty of water — the southeast, the upper Midwest, the northeast, and the northwest. But where would they all live? The entire United States built 1.6 million new homes in 2021. What if we suddenly needed homes for 40 million people? And what if, when they got there, they found out all the water was owned… by Wall Street?
This is why Wall Street is after your water. The mass migration will never happen because no political leader will want to see the chaos of mass migration and the loss of wealth that goes with it. Instead, they’ll sell out. Remember that company that wanted to bottle Lake Superior water? Just the beginning. Wall Street will separate water rights from land rights. The government will permit water pipelines like they do oil and gas pipelines, and Wall Street will build them. Once the water is in those pipelines, the Wall Street companies own it. They get to sell the rights to it. They get to allocate it. Every town along the way, and many others, will vie for that water. Those that can afford it will prosper. And for those who can’t, like the resident of Rio Verde Foothills, they will end up in ghost towns.
Watch out. Next thing you know, they’ll be after the air.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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