Financialising a Desalination Plant

Since the insertion of urban infrastructure into the risk-taking world of financialisation, techniques for capturing added value from underlying revenue streams, from securitisation and derivatives to the structuring of bond and equity returns, have come to the fore. A value model, based on extraction through interest and dividends paid, as well as multiple fees, has benefited investors and financial intermediaries alike. Through the example of Carlsbad desalination plant in San Diego, California, this presentation sets out to show how a piece of drinking water infrastructure was translated as a value asset to match the needs of institutional investors in the USA and beyond. The disassembly and reassembly of investment qualities to capture and translate local value, then distribute it globally, was a value promise at expense of San Diego households. In unearthing how the ‘deal’ worked – by asking who benefitted, and how, and who paid the price – the presentation concludes by suggesting how the ‘complexity’ of financialisation can be argued against and alternatives found and argued for.