[KenanSulayman]

These aren’t water contracts as in “settlement in water” — they’re settled in cash and they’re water INDEX futures. There’s simply no way this will affect actual water shipments beyond maybe being used as hedge for water producers (which is rather unlikely).

[piker]

This is wrong. Many contracts use cash settlement as an effective way to hedge against an increase in the cost of something. This product provides a hedge for water producers and consumers. To the extent water is a volatile-cost input into agriculture (perhaps an open question), this is likely to see significant usage.