All water issues are above my pay grade, but I'm mildly obsessed with "probably running out of water" stories. There isn't really
a solution!
Fear of that kind of “drought profiteering” prompted state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D) to write Attorney General Merrick Garland in May asking for an investigation into the anti-competitive practices of hedge funds and other investors that “literally steal our most life dependent resource from ourselves and future generations in exchange for a profit.”
Read the whole thing, but that paragraph is there without any further explanation. Earlier paragraph:
“I cringe when I say this,” Brewer told the City Council on Aug. 4, as he reported that water that normally cost the city $190 per acre-foot was being sold on the open market for as much as $2,500 per acre-foot. The city might need up to $2.5 million to buy enough water to last the year, he said. The city’s entire budget is $10 million.
What is this open market? Where is the water coming from? Who owns it, how, and, why? Are these "hedge funds" involved? Why do we call them "hedge funds" still?