New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights, betting big on an increasingly scarce resource

BY BEN TRACY, ANDY BAST, CHRIS SPINDER

JANUARY 31, 2023 / 7:41 AM / CBS NEWS

With the federal government poised to force Western states to change how they manage the alarming shortfall in Colorado River water, there is one constituency with a growing interest in the river’s fate that’s little known to some: Wall Street investors.

Private investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West: water in the Colorado River, a joint investigation by CBS News and The Weather Channel has found. For some of the farmers and cities that depend on the river as a lifeline, that interest is concerning. 

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