Day without water

A couple of weeks ago, while at the BF’s, there was a water shutdown because of a burst pipe. We were without water for our day off. Going a day without water was difficult to say the least. We couldn’t do dishes. No bathroom. No drinking water. Luckily we had a couple of bottles of water.

It really made me realize how important water is in our lives. How lucky we are to have running water. Just recently I read somewhere that one sixth of the world has no access to safe water. There are two things to take away from this.

Water is a resource we should not take for granted. Don’t waste it. I’m sure if we take a look at our water usages habits, there are unnecessary usages that we can cut out. A quick look for statistics on water use show that average North Americans use 400 litres of water Per Day, while Europeans use 200 litres, and developing worlds only use 10 litres.

Also, given the importance of water, and that the demand for it will only increase with increasing population and developing countries, it is a good investment. So are companies like GE or Siemens involved in water sanitation etc. For me, I’d rather have a basket of such stocks for better diversification and lower risk. I have PHO. Of course the more savvy investors would say lower risk means lower returns. But to each his own. Choose the risk level that allows you to sleep at night.

Photo curtesy of leannz0r via flickr