His investment companies Wall Street they see great opportunities to profit from water management and maintenance, and even in areas where they are limited and the need for intervention is greater.

Image taken from linked report CNNwhich, after extensive research, has shown that many US investment firms buy large tracts of land in drought-prone or water-rich areas in order to obtain rights to use water for irrigation purposes, and then begin to trade it at their discretion.

In a rather inhospitable area on the Arizona-California border, Greenstone Management Partners, an investment company, recently bought an area of ​​about two million square meters, according to the American news network. There is the tiny town of Chimbola, with a population of only 300, who depend almost entirely on the Colorado River for their livelihood. It irrigates cotton and alfalfa plantations, maintains a nearby wildlife sanctuary, and allows visitors to explore the area by boat.

On its website, Greenstone Management Partners states that its goal is to “promote the use of water through transactions that benefit both the public interest and the private sector.” His critics accuse him of trying to exploit the region’s most valuable but limited resource: water. And all of this comes at a bad time for Arizona, as its share of the Colorado River has dwindled due to the worst drought the region has seen in decades. Residents and local officials accuse the company of buying huge tracts of land, not to farm them, but to obtain rights to exploit the water on which the city’s survival and economy depend. Referring to the heated dispute, Travis Lingenfelter, administrator of the neighboring county, emphasizes that the issue concerns the future of communities around the Colorado River. He points out that many other investment companies have stepped in and are trying to secure rights to use Colorado’s waters through land purchases.

The New York investment company purchased land not only in Arizona, but also in California, Colorado and Nevada.

This is the new investment trend on Wall Street, and not just in Arizona. Many East Coast investment companies have bought millions of square meters of land. arable land in all southwestern states, according to the related CNN investigation. The New York-based investment firm is currently one of the biggest players in the field, as it has bought land not only in Arizona but also in California, Colorado and Nevada, according to the American News Network, while new deals are not yet completed. from New Mexico and Texas.

Matt Diserio, president and founder of investment firm Water Asset Management, calls water in the US a “trillion-dollar investment opportunity.” Water Asset Management only invests in water management companies and, according to Diserio, founded it “with the belief that scarce clean water will become the wealth-producing resource that will define our century, just like abundance, cheap and dirty oil defined the last century. On its website, Water Asset Management describes its business as “investing in companies and assets that ensure water quality and availability.”

Speaking to CNN, Mark Robert, the company’s chief financial officer, stated that “Water Management is proud of its investments in agriculture and water supply in the American West.” As he points out, when an unprecedented shortage of water was recorded in the Colorado River, his company was quick to respond to requests to save water. He even promises that the company will continue to manage the resources of the region in order to contribute to the solution of the problem of water scarcity and to contribute to its proper maintenance. But according to Andy Miller, CEO of Colorado River District Water, these investment companies are trying to take advantage of the drought and “make profit by grabbing the resources that communities in these areas depend on.” He even accuses Water Asset Management of using all sorts of maneuvers to hide from local authorities its transactions and, in particular, the purchase of large plots of land. One is to hide her real identity and, when she buys large plots of land, use other brands. In its investigation, CNN found that large tracts of land were indeed bought by investors under different names, but with the same address as Water Asset Management’s headquarters in New York.