California lawmakers are ratcheting up calls for “urgent action” by the US Justice Department to investigate potential water crimes as the state battles “dire” supply shortages and drought.

The bipartisan group told US Attorney General Merrick Garland that, along with ongoing concern about possible “drought profiteering” and water theft, worry is building that “fraud and market manipulation” is constraining already severely limited water availability.

“We believe this manipulation is causing water prices to spike, and may soon cause a spike in food prices,” four state lawmakers including Democratic Senator Melissa Hurtado and Republican Assembly Member Suzette Valladares wrote Wednesday in a letter to Garland.

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