The Great Arizona Water Grab
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2023
⏱️ 52 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.
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Transcript
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| 1:00.2 | Please consider creating your legacy of truth today. |
| 1:04.4 | Thank you. |
| 1:08.3 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal. |
| 1:13.2 | I'm Al Letson. |
| 1:15.1 | Today, we're talking about something so essential to daily living that for this man, it's more precious than gold. |
| 1:23.0 | Gold is worth quite a bit. |
| 1:25.1 | Water is worth more than gold. |
| 1:26.7 | If you don't have it, |
| 1:28.9 | Wayne Wade is a retired industrial electrician. He's worked in mines, gas plants, and oil fields. |
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