Marshall & Stevens to host water risk forum as Puerto Rico rationing spotlights drought pressure

Marshall & Stevens will hold a virtual forum Sept. 9 on how water scarcity is reshaping agriculture, infrastructure, investment, energy and asset values. The event comes as Puerto Rico faces water rationing, underscoring how drought and aging systems are affecting communities and markets.

Why it matters: - Water scarcity is moving from an environmental issue to a financial and operational risk for agriculture, real estate, infrastructure, energy and capital markets. - Puerto Rico’s rationing shows how drought and constrained water systems can quickly affect families, businesses and investment decisions. - Investors, lenders and developers are increasingly treating water availability as a factor in asset values and long-term planning.

What happened: - Marshall & Stevens announced a 2026 Water Forum titled “Navigating Water Risk Across Agriculture, Infrastructure, and Capital.” - The 90-minute virtual forum will be held Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time and 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. - Registration is available at More information. - The forum is being held as hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rico residents face water rationing amid worsening drought conditions.

The details: - Jennifer Simmonson, MAI, director in Marshall & Stevens’ Real Estate Practice, will moderate the forum. - Panelists include Bobby Majumder of FBT Gibbons, Rosemary Knight of Stanford University and the Woods Institute for the Environment, Nati Louzon of IDE Water Technologies, and Megan Nicholas Harper of Nuveen Natural Capital. - The panel will examine the growing imbalance between water supply and demand and its implications for businesses, communities and capital markets. - The discussion will cover water in the West, including the Colorado River, groundwater regulation, surface water constraints and long-term effects on agriculture and economic growth. - The forum will also cover infrastructure and technology responses such as desalination, groundwater recharge, water banking, solar canal projects and storage solutions. - Another focus will be competing uses for water, including data centers, cloud computing, energy infrastructure and agriculture. - The final theme will be valuation volatility and investment risk, including effects on asset values, underwriting, lending and long-term strategy. - Marshall & Stevens says the forum is designed for institutional investors, financial professionals, agricultural and land investors, water and infrastructure developers, energy companies, real estate professionals and business leaders.

Between the lines: - Simmonson said reliable water can no longer be taken for granted, and communities, businesses and investors are asking similar questions about water availability, infrastructure resilience and long-term planning. - Simmonson said water is increasingly shaping where capital goes, how communities develop and how risk gets measured. - Simmonson also said major agricultural investors in the West now see water availability and reliability as primary drivers of new farmland investment decisions. - The forum reflects a broader shift: water risk is becoming a cross-sector issue, not a niche concern for utilities or farmers.

What's next: - Marshall & Stevens says the forum will focus on practical, solutions-oriented discussion about managing water risk before current pressures become larger crises. - The event is intended to surface strategies that could help decision-makers better navigate future scarcity, infrastructure strain and valuation uncertainty. - More information is available at the forum registration page.