California's Water Problem - Privately Owned by Resnick Family for Profit

quote:

---

One billionaire couple owns almost all the water in California. In 1994, the Resnicks secretly seized control of California's public water supply. Now their companies use 150 billion gallons every year while working class people suffer under drought conditions.

---

quote:

---

While 40 million Californians suffer through unprecedented drought, one billionaire couple owns a massive share of the state’s water system, largely seized in a series of secretive meetings two decades ago.

That system was largely paid for by the very taxpayers whose water these billionaires hold hostage.

Urban water systems are desperate for water, but in 2023 they’ll receive just 5% of what they requested from the state. Stewart and Lydia Resnick use 150 billion gallons a year.

---

quote:

---

The Resnicks are the biggest farmers in California–as of 2007 they owned four San Francisco’s worth of farmland.

And nearly half of Americans buy at least one of their products: Their pistachios, their pomegranate Juice, their mandarins, their flowers

It’s all under one massive umbrella: The Wonderful Company, a privately owned company worth at least 5 billion dollars. The majority owners, the Resnicks, are worth at least 8 billion.

---

quote:

---

Wonderful, the closely held company owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, can buy up huge amounts of water whenever it needs more. Most of the Resnicks’ water comes from long-term contracts and other water from land rights they have from the farms they own. Around 9% of the total water used by Wonderful is bought out on the open water market. While that’s not a huge amount of the water it uses, the company can outspend pretty much every other farmer in the region, which can influence water prices.

---

quote:

---

They eventually transformed those acres into what’s now one of the biggest private farming operations in America, producing seedless lemons, Halo mandarins and wine. Wonderful says it’s the world’s largest producer of tree nuts, America’s largest citrus grower and biggest floral delivery service via Teleflora. It also sells Fiji Water and citrus pomegranate drink Pom.

---

quote:

---

Those crops consume an estimated 150 billion gallons of water a year, two thirds of that on nuts, which would be enough to supply San Francisco’s 875,000 residents for a decade. The Wonderful Co. says the estimate is high, but declined to comment further. For comparison, San Francisco uses about 70 billion gallons annually.

---