The Great Arizona Water Grab
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2023
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A Saudi-owned farm in the middle of the Arizona desert has attracted national attention and criticism since Reveal’s Nate Halverson and Ike Sriskandarajah first broke this story eight years ago. The farm is using massive amounts of water to grow hay and export it to Saudi Arabia in the midst of a water crisis in the American West.
Since then, megafarms have taken hold here. And the trend isn’t fueled just by foreign companies. Many people have no idea that their retirement funds are backing massive land deals that result in draining precious groundwater. Halverson uncovers that pension fund managers in Arizona knew they were investing in a local land deal, which resulted in draining down the aquifer of nearby communities. So even as local and state politicians have fought to stop these deals, their retirement fund has been fueling them.
And it’s not just happening in Arizona. Halverson takes us to Southern California, where retirement money also was invested in a megafarm deal. This time, the farm was tapping into the Colorado River to grow hay and ship it overseas. And it was happening as the federal and state governments have been trying to conserve river water.
Halverson’s investigation into water use in the West is just one slice of his reporting into a global scramble for food and water, which is featured in an upcoming documentary, “The Grab” by director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. “The Grab” will be coming soon to a theater or screen near you.
Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal, I'm Al Letson. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, we're talking about something so essential to daily living. |
| 0:12.0 | That for this man, it's more precious than gold. |
| 0:15.0 | Gold is worth quite a bit. |
| 0:17.0 | Water is worth more than gold. If you don't have it. |
| 0:21.0 | Wayne Wade is a retired industrial electrician. |
| 0:24.0 | He's worked in mines, gas plants, and oil fields. |
| 0:27.0 | And after his kids grew up, he and his wife settled in La Paz County, Western Arizona. |
| 0:32.0 | They fell in love with the desert. |
| 0:35.0 | You have to be here year round to see the seasons. |
| 0:39.0 | And when the plants bloom, it's just something you don't get any place else. |
| 0:44.0 | But then, the water level in their well started dropping each year, forcing them to go deeper into the earth. |
| 0:52.0 | It was expensive, tens of thousands of dollars. |
| 0:56.0 | At the same time, industrial mega farms were moving into their community and growing crops to send overseas. |
| 1:03.0 | I was raised on a farm, I'm not against farming, but we need to take care of it too. |
| 1:09.0 | You know, it needs to be taken care of in the right way. |
| 1:13.0 | Wayne is referring to the water. |
| 1:15.0 | Like much of Arizona, La Paz gets very little rain. |
| 1:19.0 | But the county does sit on top of an enormous ancient aquifer. |
| 1:24.0 | And these farms were pumping up huge amounts of that groundwater. |
| 1:28.0 | If the water leaves, I think the people will leave. |
| 1:31.0 | Ultimately, Wayne and his wife did leave La Paz County along with others, forced out as their wells went dry. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.