Many of you have probably had the chance to see “The Big Short,” a movie set against the backdrop of the subprime mortgage crisis that erupted in the U.S. financial markets and later spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Based on Michael Lewis’s book *The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine*, 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 depicting what happened during those days, a line spoken near the end of the film comes to mind today: “Burry is focusing all his trading on one commodity: water.”

That phrase takes on special meaning today. Water is not only essential to human life, but it is also a key factor of production in many sectors of the economy. It is of paramount importance in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; it is used extensively in the energy sector and in extractive industries such as mining; and it is even used 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 sustaining jobs.

What's the problem? Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth, the effects of climate change, and the misuse of these resources. According to recent studies, 97.5% of water is saltwater (oceans), 2.24% is freshwater (found in polar ice caps, glaciers, and deep groundwater), and only 0.26% is freshwater accessible for human consumption (lakes, reservoirs, and river channels). It is estimated that more than 2 billion people still lack access to drinking water in their homes. Many international analysts maintain that disputes over water will be the primary source of global conflicts.

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 safe 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 and recycling, among many other applications.

This raises the question: How can one 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 option; however, there are currently faster, more efficient, and more diversified ways available to us to achieve the same goal.

I'm 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 specific company.

The market's range of active and passive funds includes:

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