Stockholm can be seductive, but was overcast, drizzly and cold as I arrived for World Water Week. There was the familiar downpour of bleak statistics, such as that a child dies from diarrheal disease every 15 seconds. Not surprisingly, the 2,400 scientists and leaders from the public, private and citizen sectors drew some fairly dark conclusions, warning that "slow progress on sanitation will cause the world to badly fail the Millennium Development Goals, while weak policy, poor management, increasing waste and exploding water demands are pushing the planet towards the tipping point of a global water crisis." 

But even the darkest clouds sometimes kick up silver linings and there are growing signs that innovators, entrepreneurs and investors are increasingly alert to the surge tide of new market opportunities.

Philanthropists, too, are diving in. In fact I was in Stockholm to speak on a panel launching a new initiative in corporate philanthropy, engineering firm ITT's new Watermark initiative. Developed alongside the NGO Water for People, the basic platform involves an initial three-year, $3m budget to help provide safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to 300 schools in the developing world. Expected ripple effects suggest that the net result could be significant improvements to the lives of more than 100,000 children and their families.

But an even bigger splash came with the award of the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize to Professor Tony Allan of King's College London, a pioneer in the communication of water issues and how they link to agriculture, climate change, economics and politics. In 1993, he introduced the "virtual water" concept, which measures how water is "embedded" in food and consumer products.

Behind a single cup of coffee, for example, there is a huge virtual water shadow. On average, 140 litres of water are used to grow, produce, package and ship the beans for a single cup, about the same amount used every day by an average English person for drinking and household needs. A hamburger needs around 2,400 litres of water. Professor Allan recommends vegetarianism. Whatever our menu, such facts and figures will force their way into the business mainstream.