Billionaires and Wall Street Bet Big on Water as the Next ’Blue Gold’

Water is being dubbed 'blue gold' by billion-dollar asset managers, with strategic investments pouring into water rights and innovative technologies. Wall Street giants are acquiring land in Arizona for Colorado River water rights, while a single group controls 57% of California's largest underground water storage facility.

Bill Gates and BlackRock recently committed $150 million to a project extracting water from air, signaling institutional confidence in water's scarcity value. Water Asset Management president Matt Diserio predicts a trillion-dollar U.S. market opportunity, with his firm already managing $400 million in water-related assets.

For retail investors without billionaire resources, products like Water150 aim to democratize access to water security investments. The trend reflects growing recognition that premium drinking water may become one of the 21st century's most contested commodities.