Many of you have probably had the opportunity to see "The Big Short," a film set during the subprime mortgage crisis that detonated in the US financial markets and then spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Based on Michael Lewis' book "The Big Short: Inside the Machine Doomsday," the film describes some of the factors that triggered the crisis and tells the story of people who experienced those complex days in different ways. One of them is Dr. Michael Burry, played by English actor Christian Bale, a former neurologist with Asperger's syndrome and blindness in one eye who works as a hedge fund manager. Beyond the quality of the book and the film in faithfully representing what happened during those days, a phrase spoken near the end of the film comes back to me today: "Burry is focusing all his trading on one commodity: water."

That phrase takes on special meaning today. Water is not only essential for human life, but it is also a key productive factor in many sectors of the economy. It is of prime importance in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, and is used intensively in the energy sector and extractive industries such as mining, and even in the production of the simplest goods we use every day. For this reason, the United Nations does not hesitate to describe water as an essential component of economies, necessary for creating and maintaining jobs.

What is the problem? Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth, the effects of climate change, and misuse of the resource. According to recent studies, 97.5% of water is salt water (oceans), 2.24% is fresh water (located in polar ice caps, glaciers, and deep groundwater), and only 0.26% is fresh water accessible for human consumption (lakes, reservoirs, and river channels). It is estimated that more than 2 billion people still do not have access to drinking water in their homes. Many international analysts argue that the dispute over water will be the main source of global conflict.

The world faces a tremendous challenge. This presents a great opportunity for governments and the private sector to develop technological solutions that will expand access to drinking water. Research has led to innovative technologies that allow us to condense vapor, extract water from dry desert air, desalinate seawater, and develop water filtration systems for consumption, recycling, and many other uses.

This raises the question: how can we invest in water? Probably the simplest way is to purchase land with water rights or land adjacent to a river. And no one doubts that this can be a valid alternative. However, there are now faster, more efficient, and more diversified ways to achieve the same goal.

I am thinking, for example, of investing in public companies involved in the water treatment and distribution business (utilities), either through an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) or directly in a company.

The market offers the following active and passive funds:

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