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I think the key thing that most people aren't aware of on this is that there are two rates people can and will pay for water. One is for agriculture water suppl

I think the key thing that most people aren't aware of on this is that there are two rates people can and will pay for water. One is for agriculture water supplies and one is for municipal. And they differ by orders of magnitude. That's why desalination can help solve any municipal supply problems but won't make an iota of difference for agriculture.

scythe 10y ago
The severe concern that has existed about the cost of desalination and other alternative water supply techniques and their impact on the cost of agriculture is somewhat misleading. It's true that agriculture as it currently exists is structurally dependent on low water prices which may not be attainable with alternative resources whose utilization may nonetheless become necessary. However, this situation exists in agriculture partially because it has heretofore been a more reliable cost-savings to invest in efficiency in other resource utilization rather than water. An increase in the price of water will spur investment in higher water efficiency. So the cost increase to the consumer will not necessarily be the cost increase of the water times the water usage, and will probably be less.
BurningFrog 10y ago
Now imagine if those two groups were allowed to trade!
- mirimir 10y ago
  So why aren't they? So farmers can grow some crop, which embodies a great deal of water, and then sell it. Even something like grapes, which are mostly water. Why can't they just sell the water? Maybe process and bottle it.
  - aidenn0 10y ago
    There are too many stakeholders in water-rights that would all have to agree to any renegotiation, which makes adopting such rules essentially impossible.
    - mirimir 10y ago
      Can agricultural water be used to brew beer? How about very weak beer?
      - sbov 10y ago
        As far as I know, many agricultural water rights came attached to the land they bought and for a specific purpose. I don't know how specific it must be though so I'm not sure if you can go from growing almonds to brewing beer.

scythe 10y ago

The severe concern that has existed about the cost of desalination and other alternative water supply techniques and their impact on the cost of agriculture is somewhat misleading. It's true that agriculture as it currently exists is structurally dependent on low water prices which may not be attainable with alternative resources whose utilization may nonetheless become necessary. However, this situation exists in agriculture partially because it has heretofore been a more reliable cost-savings to invest in efficiency in other resource utilization rather than water. An increase in the price of water will spur investment in higher water efficiency. So the cost increase to the consumer will not necessarily be the cost increase of the water times the water usage, and will probably be less.

BurningFrog 10y ago

Now imagine if those two groups were allowed to trade!

mirimir 10y ago
So why aren't they? So farmers can grow some crop, which embodies a great deal of water, and then sell it. Even something like grapes, which are mostly water. Why can't they just sell the water? Maybe process and bottle it.
- aidenn0 10y ago
  There are too many stakeholders in water-rights that would all have to agree to any renegotiation, which makes adopting such rules essentially impossible.
  - mirimir 10y ago
    Can agricultural water be used to brew beer? How about very weak beer?
    - sbov 10y ago
      As far as I know, many agricultural water rights came attached to the land they bought and for a specific purpose. I don't know how specific it must be though so I'm not sure if you can go from growing almonds to brewing beer.