Water Education Foundation

Rinky-Drink: Old systems spur water shift

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 3, 2009 at 8:04 am

From Investors.com:

Southern California firefighters stood helpless as a November blaze destroyed 18 of the 100 homes in the Hidden Hills Estates development in Yorba Linda. The problem: Fire hydrants had run dry.

Fetching water has never been easy. And the Yorba Linda story is just one among scores of recent accounts detailing frailties in our modern technical wizardry.

In November, an outbreak of fecal coliform contamination cut off water to thousands of residents near Pittsburgh. Two days before Christmas, in Bethesda, Md., a massive water-main break trapped dozens of motorists in up to four feet of icy water.

The events highlight a water-delivery infrastructure that is aging and, in many cases, overburdened.

“Just like with the roads and bridges,” said Rita Schmidt Sudman, executive director of the Sacramento, Calif.-based Water Education Foundation. “We are living off what our parents did, what they voted for.”

Most of the 168,000 public water systems in the U.S. were built as the population boomed in the decades following World War II. The broken water main in Bethesda, for example, dated to the 1960s. The Environmental Protection Agency says bringing the nation’s water system up to standards by 2019 will require $500 billion beyond current spending projections.

Read more from Investors.com by clicking here.

January 3, 2009 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Water: the ultimate commodity

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 25, 2008 at 5:29 am

From Seeking Alpha:

We all need water to live. As useful as oil, copper and corn may be, we could get by without them for a while. But water? Water is a necessity. And for some, this makes it the ultimate commodity.

People invest in commodities for a lot of reasons: for diversification; as a way to play growth in the developing world; because they think demand growth will outstrip supply.

By those metrics, water may be the ultimate commodity investment. Demand for water is steady and never-ending, meaning water investments should not be correlated with broader economic developments. Meanwhile, history shows that as economies develop, citizens will demand more and more water to support richer lifestyles, making water an interesting play on countries like China and India. And finally, the world is in a silent water crisis, with rising demand set against limited supply; a classic commodities squeeze.

Read the rest of this article from Seeking Alpha, which looks at opportunities for investing in water, by clicking here.

November 25, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Water & Investing: Swim among the water stocks

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 6, 2008 at 7:37 am

From the Washington Post & Kiplinger:

The world is facing a growing shortage of fresh water. In fact, dwindling supplies of this most natural of resources are making water nearly as hard to find as oil. That means companies involved in selling, purifying or facilitating the transport of water should be good investments as the world grapples with reduced flows of the wet stuff.

Shares of water-related companies have bucked the tide during the market downturn. Over the past year to September 8, PowerShares Water Resources, an exchange-traded fund, broke even, while Standard & PoorÕs 500-stock index sank 14%. Some water stocks have performed remarkably well. Shares of Northwest Pipe — which, not surprisingly, makes pipes for water infrastructure and other purposes — have jumped 49% over the past year. Shares of American Water Works, a utility, have risen 3% since the company went public in April, outshining the S&P 500 by 13 percentage points.
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If you want to swim in the world of water, you have a choice of pools. You could buy shares of companies that make equipment for utilities, purification programs and other water-related projects. Also worth a look are companies that will replace the nation’s aging pipes and provide new ones for transporting water to growing population centers. In addition, water utilities offer generous dividends and provide steady growth that could accelerate as demand increases and state regulators approve rate hikes. Meanwhile, companies in the U.S. and in places with burgeoning populations and desert environments are investing in desalination plants, which purify seawater by extracting salt and other minerals.

Find out more including specific companies you might invest in from the Washington Post & Kiplinger by clicking here.

October 6, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Water: an ocean of opportunity

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 16, 2008 at 10:09 pm

From Seeking Alpha:

The Dow is bouncing up and down like a yo-yo. Every chart looks like a ski slope. A few investors are profiting from these wild market mood swings, while others are seeking refuge in industries that feature non-discretionary items, like water.

Approximately 40% of the world population lacks adequate fresh water. In the next decade an estimated $800 billion is going to be spent globally to bring fresh water to those who don’t have it. With that kind of money flowing into a sector, you can bet now is the time to start paying attention to water.

Water stress is severe in China, India, and Africa, and it’s also rising in developed nations. Sure there are infrastructure issues, but one of the biggest problems is simply a lack of water. Most of the earth’s surface is water, but less than 3% is drinkable.

The world’s freshwater resources are not sufficient to keep up with demand. As the world population grows and water tables decline, a solution has to be developed. Right now, that solution is desalination.

Desalination (removing the salt from ocean water) is a technology that is gaining momentum as a practical solution to the global water shortage. This isn’t some hippy green-energy pipe dream that’s 20 years away from having a meaningful impact on the world. The National Academy of Sciences declared, “Desalination is a realistic option for increasing water supplies.”

September 16, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Whiskey’s for drinkin’, water’s for investing in

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 27, 2008 at 7:35 am

From the Cleantech Blog:

Last week I put out the idea that we were approaching a tipping point in water re-use. There were a few other headlines this week which support that. For one thing California’s second largest reservoir is now ‘at its lowest level in 30 years’. Last Monday the California Department of Water Resources Director, Lester Snow, stated that next year “could be the worst drought in California history”. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein have proposed a $9.3 billion plan to the Legislature to fund a number of measures aimed at improving California’s water system.

So that’s California, - which bear in mind would be the 7th largest economy in the world if it was a country and has been the number one food producer in the United States for more than 50 years. Now let’s take a look at what’s happening in the capital of the world’s second largest economy. In Beijing, in the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Siemens Water Technologies has started up a wastewater reuse system at the city’s Beixiaohe wastewater treatment plant. The goal is to process 90% of the wastewater with 50% of the treated wastewater being recycled and reused.

2008 may be remembered as the year in which China hosted the Olympic Games but is also an auspicious year for another reason. 2008 is the first year in which the population of the planet will be more urban than rural. (Apparently this change occurred May 23rd 2008!). That’s an important turning point and if we are to increasingly live in cities, this of course means that we need to have means of sustainably meeting demands on water use in these cities.

Get investment advice from the Cleantech blog by clicking here. (As always with investment information, no endorsement is given or implied.)

July 27, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Water, a soluble problem: More trading could help to alleviate water shortages

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 20, 2008 at 6:41 am

From Economist.com:

So world markets are short of oil, and supplies of food are running thin. The prices of all sorts of basic commodities are soaring, and now there may also be reason for many to worry about the most fundamental of necessities—water. Some experts believe so, at least, and they are spreading doom-laden warnings of a Malthusian crisis in the world’s water supply.

Goldman Sachs, an investment bank which likes to ponder the future of the world, recently suggested that a global lack of water could prove to be a bigger threat to mankind than rising food prices or the depletion of energy resources. Sir Nicholas Stern, who reviewed the economics of climate change in a big report for the British government in 2006, is worried too. He points to some big local problems, for example in the Himalayas, where melting glaciers risk disrupting supplies of usable water in the region, just as many underground aquifers are drying up. He argues that water—at least the fresh sort—is not a renewable resource, and because it is not priced properly it has been “mined” without restraint.

Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years says Goldman Sachs. According to Sir Nicholas, in many places supplies are running short as rising consumption cannot be matched by fresh rainfall. As a result, suggests Goldman Sachs, the price of water is bound to rise: bad news for the poor and thirsty, but an opportunity for investors. The excited bank even suggests that water might be considered to be the “petroleum for the next century”.

More from Economist.com by clicking here.

July 20, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Finally, an IPO worth talking about: Energy Recovery

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 10, 2008 at 5:59 pm

From MSN’s Money Blog:

We’ve been stuck in one of the bleakest IPO periods in recent history. At least Energy Recovery is there to give us hope. Shares of the water desalination specialist have risen 32% since the company’s July 1 debut to $11.43.

This is a company you want to root for, and after reading Energy Recovery’s prospectus I look forward to seeing where it goes from here. The company focuses on reverse osmosis for sea water, which uses high pressure to push sea water through filters and turn it into fresh water. Desalination has been too expensive and energy-sapping to be feasible for many countries, but that’s changing. There are 20 desalination plants proposed for California, and cities in Europe and Australia are building them, according to the Economist.

Read more from the MSN Money Blog by clicking here. (Check it out if you’re interested, but as always, no endorsement given or implied.)

July 10, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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Water proves good resource in portfolio; More ways to invest in supply, technology

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 6, 2008 at 7:09 am

From the Chicago Tribune:

Battles over water rights for survival and economic growth were dramatically depicted in the films “Chinatown” about Los Angeles and “The Milagro Beanfield War” about the American Southwest. The present-day story unfolding over water’s future may offer opportunities for investors able to envision it as a valuable commodity that benefits companies involved in its sale, distribution, purification and infrastructure.

Corporate raider and oilman T. Boone Pickens has been buying up water rights in the Texas Panhandle in the belief that water is going to become scarce and salable. This follows the logic that climate change, shrinking lakes and rivers and population growth will make increasing portions of the world susceptible to water shortages.

With that in mind, governments and companies around the world are beginning to take steps to deal more effectively with the issue of water. The number of ways to invest in water-related companies has increased.

Most mutual funds and exchange-traded funds specializing in the sector have been, at best, flat performers over the past year. That’s more than you can say for many other investments, yet there is no escaping the fact that investing is an endeavor that requires considerable patience.

“While water is the most crucial element of our lives, it has historically been cheap, and we pay little attention to things that don’t cost any money,” said Neil Berlant, portfolio manager of the $19 million PFW Water Fund. “Water has been largely neglected from a business and investment standpoint, but that is changing because the price of water is rising.”

Read the full text of this story from the Chicago Tribune by clicking here.

July 6, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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California’s drought could mean water boom, say experts; This week’s state-issued drought could attract more interest to an already booming market

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 7, 2008 at 5:33 am

From CleanTech:

While “drought” is not the kind of word that people generally enjoy hearing, especially when it’s coupled with “statewide” and “catastrophic,” California’s drought has the potential of turning bad into good, say industry experts. “This is going to be truly explosive. It’s going to be a boom,” said Neil Berlant, a fund manager of the PFW Water Fund at Crowell, Weedon & Co. investment group. “People have always over looked [water] because it’s been inexpensive,” he said, pointing out that was about to change in California.

Berlant has been investing in water for almost two decades and claims his water fund has beat the market every year, for the past 18 years. According to Berlant, water is the largest industry in the world and encompasses a large spectrum of companies—from treatment to pump manufacturers, to filter and membrane companies—all of which could be needed in much larger supply in California soon.

One such company making a difference is San Leandro, Calif.-based Energy Recovery, a desalination company founded in 1992 with the aim of making seawater desalination affordable by reducing energy costs—one of the most common complaints with desal. “Their equipment has made a significant impact of reducing the cost of desalinating water,” said Berlant. “It’s an energy intensive process, but they’ve made a dent and dramatically decreased the cost.” Representatives from Energy Recovery were unable to speak with Cleantech Group, as the company filed for a share sale to raise up to $175 million earlier this year (see Cleantech water deals diving into rough market).

Conversely, David Henderson—a managing director of Toronto’s XPV Capital—looks to substantial growth in reuse, recycling and conservation areas. “Those are the low hanging fruit when it comes to managing water resources,” continued Henderson.

Find out more from the CleanTech website by clicking here.

June 7, 2008 · Filed Under Water & Investing

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