Status: 23.07.2021 4:14 a.m.
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In California, hedge funds secure water rights. In Florida, companies are bottling water they don’t own. Droughts make it an increasingly scarce commodity – and the struggle for it is tougher.
By Kerstin Klein, ARD Studio Washington
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It was like love at first sight when Michelle Colson discovered the springs along the Santa Fe River in north Florida three years ago. Turquoise shining lagoons, crystal clear water. For Michelle: a special place. Since then, the 27-year-old has been fighting for these sources – as Michelle Colson and as the mermaid “Michi”. Large corporations make real money with the water from the springs. And: The general public comes away empty-handed.
Kerstin Klein
ARD-Studio Washington
@frauklein
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Water is common in Florida. But you can use the water on and under your property. On the Santa Fe River, however, a family interprets this right of use very broadly. For 20 years she has been pumping water from the springs – with permission – and forwarding it to corporations without anyone preventing her. For a charge.
First Nestlé, then investment companies
For a long time, the customer was the food giant Nestlé. The company bottled the spring water and sold it in supermarkets. Now the buyer is called Blue Triton and is a merger of two private equity firms. Because Nestlé recently sold its entire water business in North America to them.
Michelle and her colleagues ask themselves: How can that be? Why is the State of Florida giving away its water? Doesn’t at least take money for it? And why can companies even sell water that does not belong to them and make a profit with it? You have filed a lawsuit and want to have the family’s pumping permit revoked. But on the contrary, it has only just been renewed.
The Santa Fe River in Florida: Who Can Access the Water and For What Purpose?
Image: ARD Studio Washington
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Michelle Colson fears that the water could mainly be diverted from companies – and as an activist fights against it.
Image: ARD Studio Washington
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Permanent drought – already part of everyday life in California
On the other end of the United States, in California, people are grappling with the worst drought in 20 years. A future without enough water – here you can already guess it. Farmer Mas Masumoto has already had to give up a quarter of his acreage. There was simply no longer enough water for everything. The groundwater supply under his country is still comparatively good.
A different water law applies in the west of the USA than in the east. Put simply, landowners are not only allowed to use the water on and below their ground here. Under certain circumstances, they can even trade it, sell it on. For example in the growing cities. And because the water is becoming increasingly scarce, especially in the west, real estate agents are running down the booth there, farmers like Masumoto. Among their customers: also a lot of hedge funds.
Farmer Mas Masumoto is fighting the drought in his area – and does not want to sell to investors.
Image: ARD Studio Washington
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Investors secure water rights
The investors, the hedge funds, also farm. “You are diversifying your portfolio,” says a real estate agent. But: You also secure water rights for yourself. For Farmer Masumoto, that seems to be the real plan. “They want to extract the water like oil. Some investors come to sell the water. And in doing so, they rob the land of all life. They don’t see dead plants – they only see money,” he says.
Masumoto could also sell his farm for more than three million dollars – but he doesn’t want that. He would like to hand her over to his daughter one day. He therefore hopes that politicians will tighten the rules quickly enough to ensure that water does not finally become a commodity.
Michelle Colson in Florida is fed up with hoping for politics, constantly begging for something to change. She is now striving for politics herself, wants to be part of the local water board, maybe run for the Florida Senate. If the current politicians are unable to protect the water, then new ones are needed.
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