Colorado River water rights sale by private company might set a dangerous precedent: ‘We’ve opened Pandora’s box’
A private company supported by global investors bought nearly 500 acres of land in a tiny Arizona town and sold its water rights to a Phoenix suburb for a $14 million profit. … Greenstone Resource Partners LLC bought agricultural land in Cibola, Arizona (population around 200), and sold the water rights to suburban Queen Creek, known for lush golf courses and resort pools. Water previously used to irrigate Cibola farms now flows through a canal to provide water to master-planned communities over 200 miles away. … Greenstone bought farmland about a decade ago, but it was actually part of an investment plan to divert water from the area for profit. … “I’m afraid we’ve opened Pandora’s box,” Holly Irwin, a local county supervisor, said about the Greenstone deal, per the Guardian. Companies like Greenstone, tied to real estate developers and big banks, now have a precedent to falsely pose as farms and take water away from people living on the land.