Here at Penny Sleuth, we occasionally get reader feedback. Some are courteous and encouraging. Others are not. Both are much appreciated. We love hearing what people have to say, no matter what. We respect all of our readers’ comments — the good, the bad and the ugly.

Unfortunately, we aren’t allowed to respond to them individually, unless it is an issue with the reader’s subscription. In that case, our customer service department handles it. You can get a hold of them here: pennysleuth@agorafinancial.com

But, that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to hear what you have to say. Many readers write about their own personal stock picks. That’s perfectly fine, although as I said we can’t respond directly to them, even if you ask us for our opinions about certain companies, industries or markets. However, we still enjoy everything our readers have to say.

There is a loophole to this response issue. Even though I can’t respond directly to many of the questions or recommendations I receive, I can still write about them in articles, which are made public to everyone. I can answer questions, give advice and even quote someone (as long as we receive approval) in the form of a Penny Sleuth article. But, again, I want to point out that I can’t give specific recommendations to any e-mail I receive. So, if you have any questions or comments (good or bad) about any of the content you see here, you can write me directly here: jim@pennysleuth.com

For instance, we recently had a reader asking about water infrastructure investments. Obviously, she must have been reading articles by Chris Mayer and Christopher Hancock, our water infrastructure experts. This is a good question considering a number of things:

• As Mr. Hancock pointed out in a December Penny Sleuth, there are over five million lead pipes in use in the U.S. today.
• There are nearly 700,000 miles of aging pipeline, some as old as 100 years.
• It might cost more than $1 trillion to solve this problem. That’s just the U.S.
• Mr. Mayer pointed out last year that global water use is growing at twice the rate of the global population.
• Only 2.53% of the world’s water is fresh. Most of that is frozen in glaciers. So countries have to get drinking water elsewhere. For instance, bottled water sales in China alone, are up 250% in less than a decade.

I could go on and on… But the message seems pretty clear. An investment in any aspect of water infrastructure would give you the potential for huge profits.

So, where should we look?

Well, we have a number of choices. You can look at water investments in various ways. The one that I like the most is irrigation.

Irrigated land only makes up 17% of the world’s farmed acreage, but yields 40% of its food supply. And when it comes to food supply, that’s one thing we can’t live without.

On top of this, ethanol has been making a large stir in this country. For each gallon of ethanol, farmers use about 1,400 gallons of water. In Kansas alone, 215 million gallons of ethanol is produced per year. That’s about 301 billion gallons of water.

So anyone with the right irrigation solutions and equipment in the right place can stand to make a lot of money. One small Nebraskan company already did… Lindsay Corp. (LNN: NYSE).

Lindsay makes some of the best irrigation systems and parts in the world, and it is finally making good use of it. The company recently played the starring role in the world’s largest pivot irrigation project in Saudi Arabia. The company is also expanding faster and faster in emerging markets like China and the agricultural powerhouse, Brazil.

Unfortunately, this company has already gone through its major price boom. In fact, Chris Mayer told his Mayer’s Special Situations readers about it in the middle of 2006. They had the chance to hit the largest part of this boom and cash out with a triple-digit profit.

While this one may be played out, there are plenty more just like it. Here at Penny Sleuth, we love the agriculture plays… Especially because they come tied to this water crisis.

But, agriculture isn’t the only way to make big money with water. There are over 350 water companies worldwide. And many are diamonds in the rough. In fact, there are five such opportunities in a special report that Chris Mayer cooked up.

That’s it for now, but we will be following this water trend for quite some time…

Sincerely,

Jim Nelson
January 30, 2008

P.S.: We can’t forget about the other Chris (or Christopher, that is)… Mr. Hancock has given his Free Market Investor readers some very nice infrastructure plays. But in a very special report, he’s found something a bit different.

He found one company that is set for major profits. He calls it the “Secret $2.5 Trillion ‘Wealth Recovery’ Fund That Can Help Save Your Retirement.” The Economist calls it the “world’s most expensive club.” But you can invest now, for practically nothing.

Jim Nelson

Jim Nelson began his investing career during the tech boom at age 14 – with purchases of Starbucks and AOL. Early inspiration came from an old Tweedy Brown whitepaper: “What Works in the Market.” He graduated with a degree in Political Science from Pittsburgh University, Nelson focuses on income investing, including dividends, covered calls, and fixed-income. Additionally, he covers MLPs, ADRs, utilities, consumer staples and tobacco. Nelson is the managing editor of Lifetime Income Report.

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