Investment In Water

According to an estimate from Goldman Sachs, the global business of water, encompassing the residential and industrial water and wastewater treatment and services, is growing by 4% to 6% a year in developed countries, and as much as 15% in developing countries. Currently, it is estimated to be of about $365 billion and holding a promising forward-looking future as all countries are planning to spend billions to repair and/or build infrastructure to funnel clean water to people and industry.

How to drink water and also make money out of it? We feel, PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio (PHO), an exchange-traded fund with a basket of global water stocks, is the best way to invest in this sector. It provides enough diversity and good exposure to the international market.

But if you like to take more risk and invest in some individual stocks, here are names of a few key players in this sector [A number of these are already in the portfolio of PHO]:
Aqua America (WTR): America's largest water utility company;
IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX): Products and services for veterinary, food and water applications;
Pentair (PNR): maker of related equipments;
Watts Water Technologies (WTS): maker of related equipments;
Suez (SZE): This Paris-based company provides water services in several European nations;
Veolia Environnement (VE): This Paris-based water utility company provides exposure to the global water market, including China and Latin America, where water shortages and the consequent huge spending on infrastructure are providing good investment opportunities;
Sabesp (SBS): Latin America's largest water utility;
Sinomem Technology (SINO Singapore): a small Singapore-based membrane-technology company with a dominant share of China's pharmaceuticals business.

General Electric (GE) and ITT (ITT) also have growing presence in the water sector, but water is a relatively small piece of their global operations.