Wall Street trading water as a commodity ‘alarming’

Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) staff have been tasked to report back to the board in March on protection of Canadian water resources.

The New York Stock Exchange started trading water as a commodity in early December. Analysts predict water will as valuable as oil and gold, due to increasing world consumption and declining supply due to climate change.

“Water being traded on Wall Street; I don’t really know what the ramifications are for Canada, it scares me,” Peachland Mayor and OBWB vice-chair Cindy Fortin said.

“The contracts will allow investors and farmers alike to bet on the future price of water. The contracts are tied to the $1.1 billion California spot water market,” Business Insider.com reported Dec 7, 2020.

Contracts will each represent 10 acre-feet of water, equal to about 3.26 million U.S. gallons.

“We have a number of laws about water. It’s a public asset, it’s owned by the Crown,” Dr. Anna Warwick Sears, executive director of the OBWB, said. “I can look into what this means for Canada. I need to do a bit more research.

The report will be brought back to the board’s Mar. 2, 2021 meeting.