Water has now joined oil, gold, and other commodities traded on Wall Street, highlighting worries that the life-sustaining natural resource may become scarce across more of the world. The contracts, a first of their kind in the U.S., were announced in September of this year as heat and wildfires ravaged the U.S. West Coast and as California was emerging from an eight-year drought. They are meant to serve both as a hedge for big water consumers, such as almond farmers and electric utilities, against water prices fluctuations as well a scarcity gauge for investors worldwide. Farmers, hedge funds and municipalities […]