> As of 2015, the US used ~450 billion cubic meters PER DAY for irrigation I think you mean to say 450 billion liters, which would be 450 million cubic meters

> As of 2015, the US used ~450 billion cubic meters PER DAY for irrigation I think you mean to say 450 billion liters, which would be 450 million cubic meters. Your source says this: "For 2015, total irrigation withdrawals were 118,000 Mgal/d" So roughly speaking Israel desalinates in a year how much the US uses for irrigation in one day. That doesn't sound so outrageous. Israel is a small country.