Report: Wall Street Firms Investing in Colorado River Rights

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The Facts

  • A joint investigation by CBS News and The Weather Channel found that Wall Street investors have taken a recent interest in the Colorado River as states struggle to meet federal demands on water resource management.

  • The investigation's results come as seven states that share the river basin — California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming — have failed to reach an agreement on critical water usage cuts ahead of the Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) Jan. 31 deadline.

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The Spin

Narrative A

The current state of the Colorado river can't support the 40M people across seven states that depend on it for their livelihoods, and abandoning the system to investors and private greed will only make it worse. Water shouldn't be a good that's sold to the highest bidder — the government must step up and shut down the high-handed movers and shakers of Wall Street.

Complete Colorado

Narrative B

There's a misconception about the amount of water that's available in the Western sector of the US. There's not yet a water shortage; it's just not located in the areas that need it the most — largely due to an outdated regulating system that can't keep up with the region's changing landscape. While certainly flawed, a market-based approach — that discourages waste and promotes innovation — would make considerable strides in redrawing the water distribution map and solving this crisis.

New York Times

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