Three ways we hope to serve the West
Three ways we hope to serve the West
Kristina Ribellia
Founder of Western Water Market
February 9, 2020
At its most basic, westernwatermarket.com is a simple, online listing service helping to connect water right buyers and sellers locally, and is a directory to help people find the water right professional they need to move forward with confidence. Our hope however, is that the platform grows to offer much, much more.
Here are three ways we hope Western Water Market will grow to serve the West:
1) By serving as a clearinghouse for all (or most) things related to buying and selling water rights
Currently, at least in Washington, many people don’t know where to go or who to work with when they need to buy or want to sell their water rights. This inefficiency creates confusion, frustration, and missed opportunities for all parties. We hope that Western Water Market becomes a common household name, so regardless of where you live or want to do business, you know where to find the resources you need. Further, people can subscribe to our email list and to be the first to learn of new listings. Imagine how much more effective a drought leasing program could be, for example, if water right holders received instant notification of the program through email.
2) By providing a simple, cost-effective water market solution
With increasing demands on a limited supply of water, many communities are making significant investments in developing water market strategies. But what if we're trying to over-engineer a solution? Could a simple, online listing service, paid for by the users of the platform help solve 75-99% of the problems? We think perhaps so. Western Water Market is built and open to the public, and costs $49/mo to list your water rights for sale or lease, or to list as a buyer. We don’t take a commission or referral fees and you can cancel at any time.
With this, we do understand that in certain circumstances, more sophisticated, real-time trading capabilities are what’s needed most. While these tools are being developed, we humbly invite you to use Western Water Market to gather additional market research, jumpstart market participation and begin better serving your community today. Once your smart market is live, we’d love for it to be a reference point on Western Water Market so that we can help direct folks to you.
3) By creating a more open and transparent water market
This is at the heart of why we developed and launched Western Water Market.
When Evan Bush’s article, “Wall Street spends millions to buy up Washington state’s water” hit the front page of the Seattle Times last October, it was a devastating shock to many. People were and continue to be incredibly upset by the notion that Wall Street (or others for that matter) are buying and transferring water out of their community or basin. Yes, this is happening at some scale and it has been happening for a long time -- how? They have the information and resources that are needed to execute such complex transactions.
Our hope is to help level the playing field a bit, by providing people -- anyone who visits westernwatermarket.com -- with the information and access they need to participate in the water market. Further, if a water right holder is approached by a buyer, we hope Western Water Market can help provide market insight, as well as provide an array of local options if selling is of interest.
We hope Western Water Market can help create a more open and efficient water market — one that reflects the needs and values of the communities who choose to use it. If you are interested in bringing the market to your community, please contact us.