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Water, Water Everywhere - Just Buy it, Don’t Drink it!
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If you had the chance right now to see what was going to happen in the ten years or so (and no, I’m not talking about looking into your crystal ball or invoking the spirits from the other side), then what would you do? You couldn’t really miss the opportunity and failing to see that it’s water that you should be investing in would be senseless. It’s not just staring you in the face, it’s damn well punching you on the nose.
According to analysts, the world will end up facing a crisis over water shortages, and it has already begun in many parts of the world; and not just in those that are in Africa. Sometimes those places are much closer to home than either we might expect or that we would like for our comfort-zone. By 2030, we will have a 40% shortfall between the water that is available and what is being demanded.
There are many countries in the world that have a higher rate of extraction of water than its replenishment, and that means that water is being used up at unbelievable rates today.
- The total volume of water on the planet is fixed, estimated at about 1.386 billion km³.
- But, 97.5% of that is saline water.
- Only 2.5% is fresh, with the vast majority in either unreachable places or trapped in ice reserves somewhere around the world.
- Only about 0.3% is on the surface of the planet and directly available to us.
Food prices were volatile in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and it is obviously water that will lie at the heart of the problem in the future. Water will be the agricultural challenge in the years ahead. Water supplies, which are already scarce, are being depleted by growing industries and countries that are demanding that water in their manufacturing processes.
Water Scarcity in the World
The World Economic Forum states that “we are now on the verge of water bankruptcy in many places around the world, with no clear way of repaying the debt”. Water bubbles have existed around the world, because we have had water prices maintained at very low prices in order to meet the needs of growing industrialists. The knock-on effect in certain regions around the world that are seeing their water bubbles burst (China, the Gulf States, India, the Middle East) will be (further) political instability and economic upheaval. At the present time, water has no substitute. It’s not like energy where we could (if we were actually to invest) find an alternative through renewable sources. Water cannot be replaced. We could perhaps invest in developing genetically-modified organisms that require less water to grow. But, even then we are going to hit the problem of the effects of that technological development in the food industry on our bodies. Anyhow, we are currently nowhere near that fork in the road yet. We are simply not investing in that.
Water: Scarce!
Today the figures show the following:
- Agriculture represents about 71% of water usage today (3, 100 billion km³).
- This will increase to 4, 500 billion km³ in the next fifteen years.
- Industry represents about 16% of water usage today in the world.
- This will increase to 22% in the next decade and a half.
- China’s water usage for industry will stand at 40% of the increase in demand for water around the world over that same period.
As the population around the world grows our water consumption grows too. But, it does not grow at the same proportional rate as the size of the population. The global population grew between 1990 and 2000, for instance by a factor of four. Water consumption grew by a factor of nine over that same period. Seems very much as if the more we grow, the thirstier we become. The richer we become, the more we waste that particular resource.
The world is a vulnerable place subjected to diminishing resources coupled with a population that is growing by the day. Births average out at about 134 million per year and deaths stand at 56 million today. That means that there is a net growth in world population of approximately 78 million people and world population is estimated to grow to between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050. World population is currently at over 7.163 billion people today. As our world grows in population size, it will thirst even more for water. Yet water is sometimes considered only as a commodity to be bought and sold economically. It’s much more than that. It has a religious dimension, a social and cultural side too, as well as a biological need. That means that it will always be required. Water scarcity is just like the financial crisis that was pooh-poohed as being nothing or impossible, the bubble that would never and could never burst. But, that did burst with a big slap in the face at the same time. We shouldn’t look at water scarcity and the bankruptcy of certain countries in terms of water supply with disdain and dismiss the problem belittling it. It will spread like the financial crisis unless we take things in hand.
But taking things in hand is the job of governments and non-governmental organizations that are protecting the environment and making people aware that they are either wasting or over-consuming. One thing is certain: water is scarce on the planet and it will become scarcer. The second thing that is certain is that water will continue to grow economically-speaking as a commodity to invest in.
Investing in water seems as if it might be a good bet for the future. Water is not affected by business cycles like other commodities (yet). Water is still in demand whether inflation is high or low, whether there is a recession or not and that’s the social, religious and biological aspect that it has.
The S&P 1500 Water Utilities Index charts show exactly that.
S&P 1500 Global Water - Year 2013
S&P 1500 Global Water - 5 Years
American States Water shows an increase today of 0.20% (up 0.1100 to $54.6100). Over the past twelve months there has been a 37.39% increase in the value of their stock. American States Water purchases and produces water and then distributes it and sells it on. It’s one of the biggest names in the water sector and is included in the S&P 1500 Water Utilities Index.
American States Water 1 year
Similarly, Aqua America is up today 2.45% (0.7600 to $31.8100), with an increase of 25.78% in share value over the past year alone. Over the past year share value has ranged from $24.0600 to $33.2800. Aqua America Inc. is a water utility company (supplying residential, commercial and industrial sectors.
Aqua America 1 Year
Alternatively, the PowerShare ETF PHO (incepted on December 6th 2005), which invests 80% of its total assets in common stocks of water-industry companies, would also be a good bet. Today PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio stands at $22.5100, up $0.1000 (+0.45%). Shares have ranged from $17.7200 to $32.5790 over the past year.
werShares Water Resources Portfolio PHO 1 year
Whatever happens in the future, you can be sure that anything to do with water will become bigger and better business. We haven’t invented anything that will replace it for the moment. We will always be in need of water and the population of the world is growing by the second. By investing in this sector it’s certain to bring in dividends and at the same time give the financial means to carry out research in the sector into ways of increasing the water supply that we have.
Originally posted: Water, water everywhere - Just Buy it, Don't Drink it!
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you're missing the point. "Silly humans" are not understanding that the "natural" systems are the best purifiers and do it with the least energy with the least after product. Altering the natural systems siginificantly (which we have) significantly affects the "price" of HEALTHY water not the volume...however, it does alter WHERE the water is like...not replinished in our aquifers.
Don't forget the Great Lakes - grew up on the shore of Lake Erie:
6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water; one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water (only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia contain more); 95 percent of the U.S. supply; 84 percent of the surface water supply in North America. Spread evenly across the continental U.S., the Great Lakes would submerge the country under about 9.5 feet of water.
And that is exactly why a place like Michigan has a real future. Last place on earth that will ever have a water shortage. That is why the best thing that can be done is letting Detroit collapse so that a future for these places can arise from the ashes. Resources are what matter over the long term and Michigan has no shortage of them.
You missed this:
Down the Drain: The Incredible Shrinking Great Lakeshttp://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/down-the-...
Ain't good for anyone, anywhere.
greater detroit area had some of the most fertile land prior to the auto miracle
UUhhh....let's not forget about Q U A L I T Y......
It's not all about quantity. Find some water here in the states, not laced with hormones like birth control pills, various legal and illegal drugs, (let's not EVEN get started how much anti-depressives we piss down the drain everyday).
Think outside the box guys.
Just yesterday I read an article that pointed out never before in history have so many of world's deserts had so much green folliage as witnessed by overhead satellites. The article went on and accounted that to global warming. If its true and deserts are getting greener, our fixed fresh water supply isn't so fixed.
Glenn Beck started talking about this 2 years or so ago.
But most people here just call him a shill for the joo banksters.
Too much replication going on in places where there are not sufficient resources to support it - water, food, oil, etc.
Overpopulation - the 50 ton elephant in the room. No one wants to deal with the issue any more as I gores the sacrad cows of both the left (lets respect everyone's culture no matter how backward and destructive) and right (abortion politics, fundamentalist religion). Nature will come up with a solution (likely very soon) if we don't.
W80 == Fixed.
Upvoted you. There's too many of us in the wrong places, doing the wrong things to survive on the curve we've laid out for ourselves.
Especially in Washington DC
One thing you can depend on ... when governments gets involved misallocation of water resources becomes the norm. Free market forces would allocate water very efficiently. In California a large fraction of the fresh water is dumped into canals or used to grow alfalfa or rice in a veritable desert. Meanwhile, extremely valuable crops like avocados and citrus are completely deprived of water.
Do you really want your public drinking water privatized to Goldman Sachs who will then securitize it and sell the shares to the Chinese who inturn will sell the water back to you at exorbitant fees?
One thing you can depend on ... when governments gets involved misallocation of water resources becomes the norm. Free market forces would allocate water very efficiently.
BWAHHHAAHAAHAA !!!
REALLY !!??
Not to take the side of government because its reputation is well established and deserved. But, really, the "Free" fucking market? You mean you still hold onto that myth?
And let's talk about "EFFICIENTLY" That's just code for raping the fuck out of a resource until it runs out or it's too expensive to mine, harvest, extract.....whatever.
As George Carlin said.....Two things America is good at.....Taking a good idea and running it into the ground. And....taking a bad idea....and running it into the ground.
Let the "free"market" have it. You will just run out faster.
Much of the water in the Southwest, including Imperial Valley and San Diego in CA comes from the Colorado River. Imperial Valley's water rights are so ancient they trump all other rights and thus they get about 20% of all water from the Colorado. The pact for Colorado water is decades old, everyone know it needs to be renegotiated, bt no one wants to for fear of getting less water than they have now.
i thinkt they can get a discount from japan on some ground water
shipping free and some 3 eye'd fish no extra charge
And they say they will throw in shipping for free!
Just don't buy S2C Global Systems inc.
Cost me a wedge and a half did my last water hunch. S2C were meant to be selling pure Alaskan glacier water to Iraq.... it sounded dodgy but do-able at a push, so I went for it.......Currently down 94.2% from when I bought it in August 2009.
Feel free to giggle.
Sixty inches of rain per year on my property in the Florida Panhandle.
What's the bid?
you will receive a low bid from the GovT for that water.
The GovT holds the allodial title to your property and therefore to any water it would contain.
Molten Salt reactors, desalinization facilities.
Problem solved.
Molten Salt reactors, desalinization facilities.
Problem solved.
Yeah....don't forget Dilithium Crystals and magic incantations.
Careful friend. You go talking too much physics and the contrail theorists will stick to you like antibodies. They have a protien coat that bonds with those not mathematically challenged, allowing them to overwhelm and digest invaders to their fantasy realms.
So we should just ignore that there's a country that is half powered by molten salt reactors?
ignore? Never heard of this. Details?
They have a protien coat that bonds....
Now, that's funny +1
Sort of. Desal requires large amounts of electricity and generation of electricity from fossil fuel and nukes requires large amounts of water,
If we use solar-thermal and tidal-electric energy I bet we can cut down the energy cost. For nuclear we'd have a much safer go using LFTR thorium reactors. However, we still need to find a safe place to use/store the salt.
Desalination is extremely expensive and energy intensive - and EXTREMLEY polluting. What do you do with all the salt you remove?
I was in Dubai last year and they desalinate big time - they dump the salt back into the ocean - they have dead zones because of this... no fish... no nothing. A dead sea.
it's almost as if...nature requires a balance. and if you mess with that balance for enough time at enough rate, you end up with a dead ocean (and dead banks)
Been to those very facilities, why the Emirates are building the N-power plants SW down near the KSA border, to avoid buying Qatari natgas for that existing desal.
The way to do this in the US is via a demonstration project in SE New Mexico, using a SMR (small modular reactor) that puts out 150-300 MW tied to a graphene based desal unit.
SE NM has brackish (not as salty as seawater) groundwater reserves in gigantic basins, containing by some geologist estimates, as much water as Lake Erie. Then put the spoil back in the ground at their depleted potash mines' channels, maybe even in WIPP, the low-level nuclear repository that seeks permanent entombment via salt.
Use the water to make the desert bloom.....it is not a sterile desert, it'll grow anything, just needs water, gets >350 sunshine days a year.
So we can find a place for nuclear waste, but we can't store salt?
We could dump all the salt in a salt mine..... Oh it's already fulll of nuclear waste..... I know, make salt blocks and build salt storage buildings......... Use more salt on food, drink less......... Hummmm!
Can't use that mine in Nevada, that got blocked for "environmental reasons". Our spent fuel rods are stored in pools, very similar to Fukishima.
Because you know, that mile deep hole in the rock in the middle of fucking nowhere with no ground water wasn't a good place to store it...
When people are worrying about salt storage I highly doubt the environment will be on the top of the list of concerns. In fact I expect most of those retards to die off releasing several thousand tons of water from their sacks of worthless flesh.
Queue the asshats that will tell us that desalination will save us...
Desalination is the ethanol of water shortage
Evaporation does a remarkable job of that all on it's own. What will they make you FEAR next? Run scared sheeples the whole of the world is out to get you, but Gub'ent will regulate you into safety.
You better double check the integrity of your tin foil...
Because we would choose to die instead of of desalinating?
Yes, those are our only options. Desalinate or die. lol
Desal doesn't remove radioisotopes. Neither does RO.
Next.
True. Given what tritium is I'd suspect it's hard to remove it from normal water. it has the chemical properties of water but not the mass. It's radioactive from the leaks. I can only imagine avoidance as my first survival technique on this.
Actually they both do. Unless all of the sudden radioisotobes are not actually just heavy metals with an issue with decay...
Physics, you know that hard stuff you obviously skipped out on.
I didn't skip too much:
From the Argonne Laboratory and the DOE:
"It depends on what the radioactive contaminant is, and it depends on how the distillation is carried out. It also depends on your standards for "radiation free.""
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem07/chem07449.htm
Key into that last part - then this:
The government plans to dramatically raise acceptable radiation exposure limits!
“Internal documents obtained by PEER under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit last autumn show that, under the updated PAG (Protective Action Guidelines), a single glass of water could give the equivalent of a lifetime’s permissible exposure. According to PEER, the new limits would cause a cancer in as much as every fourth person exposed.”
http://mypurewater.com/blog/2011/04/06/the-government-plans-to-dramatica...
Radiated water will never be clean. The higher the levels of radiation to begin with, the higher the levels even after 'removal', and .gov sets the standards - raised several times since Fukushima blew - for what is 'safe'. No radiation is 'safe', especially increased levels of man-made radiation, such as plutonium.
But by all means, NS, you and your children drink what you want. You obviously have the situation well under control.
My point is that the option is there, so there is no cause for alarm; we will never run out of water. What would truly save us is a free market with real price discovery.
What would truly save us is a free market with real price discovery.
LOL !!
I hear so many of you on this site put down the beliefs of some people of a "Man in the Sky" and then you put your faith in a myth called "The Free Market".
Yeah....good luck with ever finding that "free"market...much less price discovery.