# The water ETFs that returned most

> The water ETFs that returned most, ranked by total return with distributions reinvested, one year, as of Oct 2, 2026.

Data as of Oct 2, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

As of Oct 2, 2026 . Rebuilt every trading night.

## The water ETFs that returned most

Funds sold on one theme can hold different companies, so a year apart at the top and the bottom of this list is a difference in what they own rather than in the theme.

| # | Ticker | Fund | Total return, 1Y | vs the S&P 500 | Weight in S&P 500 companies | Fee |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | CGW | Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF | −0.3% | −16.5 pts | 25.6% | 0.58% |
| 2 | PIO | Invesco Global Water ETF | −3.1% | −19.3 pts | 39.1% | 0.75% |
| 3 | TBLU | Tortoise Global Water ESG Fund | −4.8% | −21.1 pts | not filed | 0.40% |
| 4 | AQWA | Global X Clean Water ETF | −5.4% | −21.6 pts | 19.5% | 0.50% |
| 5 | PHO | Invesco Water Resources ETF | −5.8% | −22.1 pts | 61.3% | 0.59% |
| 6 | FIW | First Trust Water ETF | −7.0% | −23.3 pts | 48.1% | 0.50% |

### Method

The 6 of 6 ETFs in the water theme with a full year of trading, highest first, each over the same year to Oct 2, 2026 with distributions reinvested. Across the funds listed here the one year total return runs from -7.0% to -0.3%. A year is a year. It says what happened and nothing about what happens next. The ranking is the published field sorted, nothing else: no scoring, no weighting and no view on any fund. Every fund ETFIQ covers in this category is eligible, including funds that have closed, because leaving them out would flatter the category.

### Where to next

### Where these figures came from

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A ranking is not a recommendation and no order on this site is an opinion. ETFIQ is an independent publisher, not an adviser. Standards and sources

Cite this page. ETFIQ, The water ETFs that returned most, ranked by total return with distributions reinvested, data as of Oct 2, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-water Free to use with attribution ; the underlying files are at Open data .

Other forms Plain ETFIQ, The water ETFs that returned most, ranked by total return with distributions reinvested, data as of Oct 2, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-water APA ETFIQ. (Oct 2, 2026). The water ETFs that returned most, ranked by total return with distributions reinvested. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-water Markdown [The water ETFs that returned most, ranked by total return with distributions reinvested (ETFIQ, Oct 2, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-water)

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, as of Oct 2, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-water
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HTML: https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-best-year-water