A decade ago, a company purchased nearly 500 acres of land in Cibola, Arizona, a quiet community near the Colorado River in La Paz County.
The company, Greenstone Resource Partners LLC did lease out the land to farmers for a while, growing alfalfa and cotton. But after a few years, in a first of its kind deal, the company stopped farm activity and sold the water rights to the Phoenix suburb of Queen Creek.
The town paid $11,500 per acre foot and Greenstone pocketed a $14 million profit.
Despite some grousing about the deal and pushback from other growers, irrigation managers, and politicians, as well as ongoing litigation launched by Yuma, Mohave and La Paz Counties, that water is now flowing to Queen Creek - one of the fastest growing communities in the nation.
All of this against the backdrop of apocalyptic language about the Colorado River and its dwindling supply of water AND as most water entities linked to the river fight to preserve what they have.
The story captured the attention of Maanvi Singh, a reporter at the British newspaper The Guardian.
Singh traveled to Cibola and spoke to locals about the deal but ended up discovering a lot more.
The article, 'Water is more valuable than oil': the corporation cashing in on America's drought, was published April 16th.
Maanvi Singh joined us to talk more about what The Guardian investigation uncovered.
