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I was looking for just how expensive desalination would cost, using ocean water.. Google says "[d]esalinated water typically costs about $2,000 an acre foot --
by yeukhon 10y ago
I was looking for just how expensive desalination would cost, using ocean water.. Google says "[d]esalinated water typically costs about $2,000 an acre foot -- roughly the amount of water a family of five uses in a year."
Here is an article from a few years back, targeting 17 deslination plants by this year's July.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/getting-clean-water-from-the-sea-at-a-high-price/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/getting-clean-water-from-the-sea...
The ending is so sad. Earlier this year gasoline was at as low as $1.3 here where I live in NYC (or even less I honestly can't remember how low!) Right now the gasoline price is at 2.37 where I live.
> "I do see that water is the next oil," Webber notes, "that water is the great resource of the 21st century over which battles [will be] fought, money is invested."
So here is what we need to do. Please invest more into desalination process. Make is so cheap we can produce water at a low cost.
- x0x0 10y agoTell the typical suburban family that water now costs $4k a year (you need to maintain all those pipes under the sidewalk, too) or $333/mo and you'll be able to hear the screaming from China. Not to mention lots of the coast is close to mountains, and piping water over mountains is too expensive... Californians, both humans and agriculture (that uses and wastes ludicrous amounts of water) desperately need to start using lots less water on a permanent basis.
- Symbiote 10y agoAn acre-foot (stupid unit!) is about 1.2 million litres. Five average Europeans use 250,000 litres per year, and pay €3.50/l for it. If they used as much as the Americans, that would be over $4000.
- caf 10y agoDesalination is a bit like smelting aluminium - high energy requirements are kind of built-in due to the basic chemistry. If you want cheap desalination, look for cheap energy.
- tristanj 10y agoDesalination is all about cheap energy. Desalination plants produce fresh water at sea level, and that water has to be pumped to higher elevations where people live. It's a hidden, often overlooked, cost of desalination. That makes desalination most economical in flat, low-elevation costal regions.