water market Archives

How Western Water Markets Are Changing Under Pressure

January 26, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Capital Pressby Sierra McClain

Water has been traded in the Western U.S. for decades, but as the region faces intensifying regulations, shifts in crops and drought concerns, water markets are evolving to reflect the changes.

“The idea of water moving between uses and large distances has changed over the last 30 years. In the last five years especially, there have been big changes,” said Matt Payne, principal with WestWater Research, a Boise-based economic consulting firm specializing in water market research, pricing and trading.

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Drought Is the U.S. West’s Next Big Climate Disaster

March 22, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Bloomberg Greenby Brian K Sullivan, Michael Hirtzer, Kim Chipman and Marvin G Perez

Normally at this time of year, Katy Kemp’s 80 head of cattle would be grazing on her family’s ranch in Staples, Texas. Instead, the herd is living off dwindling hay stores as drought dries up grassland and chokes off crops. Parts of Texas are so starved for water that ranchers are trucking feed 1,000 miles from Montana, driving up prices there and leaving hay producers completely sold out.

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Understanding the California Water Futures Market

March 18, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /AgNet Westby Brian German

California has recently established a water futures market that has brought with it some criticism as well as confusion. As the first of its kind in the country, it will function similarly to futures markets for other commodities. The market will allow water users to lock in a particular price they are willing to pay for water. This new futures market is entirely different from water markets that allow the purchasing of water allocations.

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Colorado Work Group Eyes New Tools to Stop Water Profiteering

February 18, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Journal-Advocateby Jerd Smith

Imposing hefty taxes on speculative water sales, requiring that water rights purchased by investors be held for several years before they can be resold, and requiring special state approval of such sales are three ideas that might help Colorado protect its water resources from speculators.

The ideas were discussed Wednesday at a meeting of a special work group looking at whether Colorado needs to strengthen laws preventing Wall Street investment firms and others from selling water for profit in ways that don’t benefit the state’s farms, cities and streams.

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Why US Investors Are Now Betting On Water

January 21, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /DW.com (Germany)

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, investors are now able to speculate on water prices. This practice, meant to help secure supplies for cities and farmers, has drawn criticism, as Sabrina Kessler reports from New York.

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Opinion: Water Markets Critical to Managing Scarcity

January 6, 2021/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Chelsea Campos /OC Registerby Will Rinehart

As COVID started to spread, farmers and large cities in Southern California were hit with another blindside last March. Fires, drought, and the planting season drove up the price of California’s water market, over 220 percent in just three months. Crops failed and pastures were lost.

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

December 8, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /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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Cash Flows: How Investors Are Banking On the West’s Water Scarcity

June 4, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /KUNC Coloradoby Aspen Journalism

In the arid West, scarce water supplies are growing scarcer. Climate change is shrinking snowpack in river basins throughout the region, leaving the future water supplies for cities, industries and farmers uncertain.

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