There’s a new gold rush in the American west. But this time, the prospectors are private firms, and they’re scouring the region for a different precious resource: water.

For the past several months, the Guardian has been investigating an unprecedented deal in which a corporation, backed by global investors, sold rights to the Colorado River’s water. The company, called Greenstone, first bought about 202 hectares (500 acres) of agricultural land in a tiny, unsuspecting town along the river’s banks. Then, it fallowed the farmland, and sold its water rights to a suburb 200 miles away – for a $14m profit.

The sale is likely the first of many. As the west slips into the worst “megadrought” in 1,200 years, and the Colorado River’s waterhead declines, Greenstone and other companies have been seeing gold. And as they scavenge agricultural land for valuable water rights, rural communities worry they’ll be left in the dust.

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