There a pretty wide gap between actually being in danger of running out of something and it being completely free. Wheat futures also get traded, and we're not

There a pretty wide gap between actually being in danger of running out of something and it being completely free. Wheat futures also get traded, and we're not about to run out of that. Futures trading could actually make it easier to fund the up front cost of building desalination plants since they could lock in the price that they are selling their water for.