A New York City-based hedge fund spent $100 million to buy farmland and water rights in Western Arizona, stirring concerns about a future “water grab” from that rural area and of corporate control over a major groundwater source. Water Asset Management LLC recently bought 12,793 acres — nearly 20 square miles — in La Paz County’s McMullen Valley Basin, County Assessor Anna Camacho said Friday. The company paid cash for the land, a county record shows. … The purchase may well have been the biggest water deal in Arizona history, Mayes said, adding it happened without a single public comment session being held to examine it.

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