Over the years I've moaned about how difficult it can be to make money out of water as an asset. Back in 2014 we posted "A Look at the World's First Water-focused Hedge Fund":
Since the first Earth Day in April 1970 and more importantly since the establishment of the EPA in December of that year, folks have been trying to make money out of water in the U.S..
Put simply, the returns have not been market-beating.
Because so much of the opportunity was my-little-crony stuff, at the whim of politicians, there was no consistency of growth at a time when other portfolio investments offered very competitive comparisons.
The alternative was to own the cash flow, private equity style, but unless one felt a passion for grit chambers and sludge pans it was pretty pedestrian, utility type ROI....
And before that, Aug. 2012:
It's So Hard to Find a Decent Bet on Water (investment vehicles)
Update below.
Original post:
Water has confounded smarter people than me.
Enron's adventure in H2O is a cautionary tale, they bought Wessex Water in England, bought water concessions in Argentina and had a long term contract in Cancun.
Enron partially spun out the water sub, Azurix at $19.00. Within 18 months it was trading at $3.50 where Enron tendered for the 34% of the company that the public owned.
Not a very sweet deal for anyone involved. Water is tough business.
And, of course, Enron being Enron, they bid 100% more than any one else in the business to get the Argentina deal to have some big pre-IPO news.
THE YORK WATER COMPANY DECLARES 612TH DIVIDEND
On the other hand there are brilliant people working on the magic and mystery of water, see below and a couple links after the jump.
From Sifted.eu, December 7:
Water tech
Europe's rising tide
Rapid global population growth is escalating water scarcity. Projections suggest that by 2050, approximately 52% of the world's population will reside in areas where water demand exceeds the available supply. Despite the recognition of water technology as a promising investment for addressing climate challenges, the sector has not attracted substantial funding.
Over the past four years, European water tech — which Sifted defines as tech for water management and treatment to ensure quantity, quality and access — startups have only received around $1bn in funding, rendering them somewhat overlooked. Only one unicorn has emerged from the depths — across the Atlantic — by the name of Gradiant, which focuses on reducing the water consumption of some of the biggest household (manufacturing) brands on the planet and repurposing treated wastewater.
Despite Elon Musk's assertion that water shortages shouldn’t be a concern due to the Earth's 70% water composition, Europe grappled with its most severe drought in 500 years in 2023. Yet, only a fraction (less than 1%) of water is currently suitable for human use. Desalinating seawater is a costly process, with expenses ranging from $2.5 to $5 per one thousand gallons (compared to $2 for freshwater), and it requires significant amounts of energy — often relying on fossil fuels in existing plants. Furthermore, desalination produces concentrated seawater, or 'brine’, posing a significant threat to marine ecosystems when disposed of back into the sea.
Europe’s water tech startups are, however, upping their stroke rate. Dutch startup Hydraloop wants to reuse and recycle 'grey water,' (that’s slightly contaminated), for activities like laundry or toilet flushing. Sweden-based Drupps is using an innovative approach to extract water from steam generated by industrial processes. Agriculture is also a serial offender, accounting for 70% of global freshwater demand while wasting half of its supply due to inefficiencies in irrigation. Startups like constellr are leveraging hyperspectral imagery to gain farm-level insights into crop patterns and irrigation needs, aiming to minimise water wastage where possible.
Some environmental commentators argue that the freshwater crisis is just as critical as the net-zero one. Over two billion people lack access to safe drinking water, a number expected to rise over the next two to three decades, yet, water tech has only received a mere 1.5% of the funding allocated to climate tech in Europe in 2023. As water scarcity intensifies, there is a pressing need for increased innovation and private capital inflows into the sector. The tap isn’t magically going to switch on....
....MUCH MORE
Isaac Asimov made appearances in a few posts. Here are two from 2020-21:
I don't know. Anything that normalizes the commodification of water, that, rather than exalting it as a giver of life (and one of the weirdest compounds in the universe) reduces it to just another thing to trade, brings us closer to the day when pure power politics forces the U.S. to drain the Great Lakes just to keep Phoenix and Las Vegas and Los Angeles going.
Or something....
*****
...Of course Issac Asimov had to go and pop my quasi-mystical water balloon. In one of Asimov's riffs on water, "Not as We Know it: The Chemistry of Life" he uses this little paragraph as a jumping-off point:
Water is an amazing substance with a whole set of unusual properties which are ideal for life-as-we-know-it. So well fitted for life is it, in fact, that some people have seen in the nature of water a sure sign of Divine providence. This, however, is a false argument, since life has evolved to fit the watery medium in which it developed. Life fits water, rather than the reverse.
From our December 2020 post "Hydrogen Storage: A New Form Of Ice":
Related:The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was also a trained chemist: PhD, Columbia, post doc, taught biochem at Boston Uni's Med school etc.
And he was fascinated by water. See after the jump.....
Water and Its Mysterie
