You are now in California and the U.S. category.

For those with a financial stake in water, drought can mean boom or bust, depending on the investment. And even without a specific market to trade water, there are numerous ways to invest in it – from buying land with water rights to stocks in water-dependent companies to municipal bonds. Take Michael Burry, for instance, the hedge fund manager featured in the book and movie “The Big Short” who outsmarted the subprime housing market crash. The end of the movie includes the line: “Michael Burry is focusing all of his trading on one commodity: Water.”

 

It’s now abundantly clear we have water problems.The first problem is that the general public doesn’t realize the state’s recently proposed reduction in river water for farmers is more dangerous for them than it is for agriculture. The list of those who will suffer from the reduction of water allowed to stay in this region is long – professionals, store owners, farmers, public servants and all of those whose income comes from agriculture-related jobs or who do business with farmers (from cutting their hair to washing their cars).

Rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada received a dusting of snow from an autumn storm that brought Yosemite Falls back to life, but it’s not time for sweaters and hot chocolate everywhere in California. Santa Ana winds typical of fall in Southern California are expected to bring a summerlike heat wave and high fire danger for the next several days from coastal counties northwest of Los Angeles down to the Mexico border. Temperatures in the hottest areas were predicted to soar into the 90s to around 100 degrees Wednesday through Friday.

This state slashed urban water use over 25 percent in the face of a punishing drought last year, exceeding a mandatory order issued by Gov. Jerry Brown and turning California into a model of water conservation. Californians tore out lawns, cut back landscape watering and took shorter showers as they embraced Mr. Brown’s call to accommodate what he warned were permanently drier times.

A series of storms that ripped through the region last weekend did more than coat the Sierra Nevada with a thin layer of snow. They also sent an estimated 11 billion gallons of water into Lake Tahoe, according to a Facebook post Tuesday from the National Weather Service in Reno. That’s enough water to raise the lake level by more than three inches, according to the weather service. “For reference, that’s roughly equivalent to the average total consumptive water use in a year from the Truckee River by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority,” the weather service reported.