Economic Shortages to Come: Water

Since the Earth is 3/4 water, it would seem that we'd never run out of water. On first blush, this is true. However, it's not water, per se, that we need. Rather, it's fresh, potable, drinking water that we need.

The more wasteful we become, the more dirty water we release into our streams and oceans, the more we put ourselves at risk of becoming really thirsty.

We have the technology to treat water to make it drinkable. We can even extract drinking water from the ocean.

However, it is very expensive to do so. Today, much of the world doesn't have the quality drinking water that we have in this country. Tomorrow (years down the road), this will be even more so. In fact, drinking water will become a scarcer commodity, for which the "haves" will have the money to buy it and the "have nots" will suffer.

While this paints a dour picture of the human condition, it also places water treatment companies in a very favorable position.

Couple a highly profitable future business with a monopoly and a thriving economy, and you get Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo or SABESP, the waste water and sewage treatment company of Brazil.

I don't normally post "stock tips," so don't take this as an expert analysis or a recommendation. It's merely a thought process worthy of your consideration. Take a look at the company, the industry, the country of Brazil, and the global economic and demographic climate and you may come to the same conclusion that I came to:

Water is big business.

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