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Shasta Lake Helped Water California; Now its Dryness is a Threat to the State

/in , , /by /Wall Street Journalby Jim Carlton Mentioned: https://www.wsj.com/articles/shasta-lake-helped-water-california-now-its-dryness-is-a-threat-to-the-state-11665864898

Few places are more critical to the water supply in California than this immense northern reservoir in the foothills of the Cascade Range.

Fed by runoff from 14,163-foot Mount Shasta and other peaks, California’s largest reservoir opened in 1945 as part of the federal Central Valley Project, an elaborate system of man-made dams, pumps and aqueducts that aims to reduce flood risks and deliver water to farms and cities in the heart of the semiarid state.

Farming, Water and Wall Street On Colorado’s Western Slope

/in , /by /AP Newsby Chris Outcalt

Under the blazing afternoon sun, Joe Bernal navigates a shiny-green John Deere tractor onto a dirt road a few miles north of downtown Fruita. Bernal is headed to cut hay in a field a few hundred feet down the road. On his way, he points out the land his family has acquired over the years. His grandparents had 150 acres over there. His parents bought this land here. His great grandparents, who showed up in 1925, lived in a house right there.

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Could Trading Water on the Stock Market Actually be Good for the Environment?

/in , /by /euronews.greenby Anna Tobin

Last year, for the first time, it became possible to trade water on Wall Street through futures contracts. Normally reserved for commodities like oil or precious metals, water became the latest asset to join the financial market. But how could this practice impact the planet?

The trading in the future prices of highly-prized commodities, where buyers agree to purchase an asset at a set date in the future for an agreed price, began in Japan in the seventeenth century with the trading in rice futures.

The latest commodity to begin trading in futures is water supplied in American’s most populous state, California.

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Opinion: Water Markets in California Can Reduce the Costs of Drought

/in , /by /CalMattersby Ellen Hanak

California’s increasingly volatile warming climate is making droughts more intense, and complicating water management. A just-launched commodity futures market for the state’s water provides a new tool for farmers, municipalities and other interested parties to ensure against water price shocks arising from drought-fueled shortages.

Taking a Wall Street approach to an essential natural resource has prompted both fear and hype. Will California experience a new Gold Rush in water? Will speculation boost the cost of water? Perhaps both the fear and the hype are unwarranted.

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Colorado’s Ornery, Independent Water Guardians Finally Agree On One Thing: Wall Street Can Look Elsewhere

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Jason Blevins

The calls came in shortly after the story in The New York Times announced Wall Street was on the prowl for “billions in the Colorado’s water.” “Can you help us? How do we get started?” wondered the New York financiers, pals of Andy Mueller, the manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.

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Wall Street Can Now Bet On the Price of California Water. Watch Out

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

Wall Street’s reputation as one of America’s premier innovation machines can only be enhanced by a new futures contract that began trading publicly on Dec. 7. It allows investors to bet on the price of water in California.

Those who take the gamble are effectively betting that the spot price for water will rise during the life of the contract; they’ll pocket the difference. Sellers are betting that the price will fall.

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Investors Can Now Trade On and Profit From California Water — How Might That Work Out?

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

It’s not just Californians paying attention to the state’s water supply anymore. It’s Wall Street.

In a sign of the growing value of water in a warming world, investors began trading futures of the coveted commodity, tied to California water prices, for the first time last week.

The novel marketplace allows speculators to make money betting on future prices of California water while allowing farmers, businesses and municipal suppliers to hedge against price swings and stabilize their costs.

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UN Warns New Water Futures May Spark Bubble for Vital Resource

/in , /by /Bloombergby Megan Durisin

The United Nations said Wall Street’s new water futures risk an essential public good being treated like gold and oil, leaving the market vulnerable to a speculative bubble. CME Group Inc.’s new contract — which debuted this week — could lure interest from hedge funds and banks alongside farmers, factories and utilities looking to lock in prices, said Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

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Wall Street’s New Water Market Is the Latest Sign We’re Headed Toward a Mad Max Future

/in , , /by /Gizmodoby Dharna Noor

We need water to cook and wash our bodies and clothes, and especially to drink—without it, we can’t live. Despite this, Wall Street traders are going to start betting on it as a commodity.

This week, with the launch of $1.1 billion contracts tied to water prices in California, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will launch the country’s first water market. It will allow farmers, hedge funds, and municipalities to essentially make wagers on the price of water and likelihood of water scarcity. Water will be a commodity, like gold or oil.
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Wall Street Spends Millions to Buy Up Washington State Water

/in , , /by /The Seattle Timesby Evan Bush

Follow the water and you’ll find the money.

That’s how it often works in the dusty rural corners of Washington, where a Wall Street-backed firm is staking an ambitious venture on the state’s water.

Crown Columbia Water Resources since 2017 has targeted the water rights of farms on tributaries of the mighty Columbia River.

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