Our business is straightforward–we are providing  a critical, essential product to a growing population. And as the demand for an increasingly high-quality water supply grows, we will continue to increase our investment in infrastructure. We will need more projects like our Bakersfield Treatment Plant, which  will add 20 million gallons of treated surface water per day to our supply. We will need wellhead treatment to meet new water quality standards, like the one for arsenic, which will cost roughly $61  million by the time it takes effect in 2006. We will need reverse osmosis plants, like the one in our Kern River Valley District  that helps ensure we have plenty of water to meet summertime demands. That is where our stockholders come in–they earn  a return on these investments. California Water Service Group is not a risky new  venture. We are a solid, disciplined, 77-year-old company that  provides a life-sustaining, basic necessity. To our stockholders we have delivered steady, reliable results through the decades, paying dividends every year for 58 years and increasing them for 36 con- secutive years. 11 Some investors take chances  on businesses that promise  sky-rocketing results, but our stockholders choose us because we provide value. value