"There's a find future in water."

Water is becoming a major commodity for specultion in Colorado. According to water trader Alvin Geist; "It's fast. It's fast money."

Despite a Colorado legal doctrine intended to prohibit speculating on water, the practice is not a crime and can be stopped only in cases that come before a water court judge. Geist isn't shy about declaring that he has made a fortune through it.

He is one of a group of savvy investors who work largely behind the scenes buying and selling rights to water in irrigation companies, water conservancy districts and other markets - in one case doubling the paper value of their investment in a single afternoon.

Colorado Common Cause spokesman Pete Maysmith questions these sales; "Something broke down here. It just doesn't feel right."

But in an age when the Colorado no longer makes it to the sea, these sort of price dealings in water can be no surprise, and will likely only worsten in the future.