Global Capital Eyes Australia’s $50 Billion Water Market

The scarcity of Australia’s water and the $50 billion market developed to manage it is drawing the attention of global capital.
Global Capital Eyes Australia’s $50 Billion Water Market
Water is stored on a farmers property in Deniliquin, Australia, on Feb. 22, 2007. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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Australia’s $50 billion water market is booming, drawing global investors and offering farmers flexibility, but ongoing scarcity and record-high permanent plantings are raising the stakes of the next drought.

Australia has one of the few markets in there world where water rights can be separated from land, capped and traded, something that still causes angst in parts of the farming community, National Farmers Federation water committee chair and Finley dairy farmer Malcolm Holm said.