Try per unit of water, so you can make meaningful comparisons. Desalinated water apparently costs/is priced at USD $2-3/meter^3 in the UAE [1,2] (0.2-0.3 cents/

Try per unit of water, so you can make meaningful comparisons. Desalinated water apparently costs/is priced at USD $2-3/meter^3 in the UAE [1,2] (0.2-0.3 cents/liter), so 1,000 liters/day => $2-3/day or ~$1,000/year. A large UAE desalination plant for comparison [3]: natural-gas fired CCGT piped to an offshore gas field, 1,430 MW electricity, and 380 million liters desalinated water/day (~$1 million/day or ~$300 million/year), presumably from waste heat. Average per-capita water consumption in the UAE is 550 liters/day [4] (so ~$400-$600/year?) -- actually among the highest in the world, comparable to the US. The point probably being that their GDP/per capita is also comparable to the US, so the desalination cost isn't that big of a disincentive. [1] http://www.zawya.com/story/ZAWYA20100808044642/UAE%20Spends%20Dh11.8%20Billion%20On%20Desalination/ http://www.zawya.com/story/ZAWYA20100808044642/UAE%20Spends%... [2] http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/dubai-introduces-new-rates-to-curb-use-of-electricity-and-water-1.85172 http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/dubai-introduces-n... [3] http://www.power-technology.com/projects/taweelah/ http://www.power-technology.com/projects/taweelah/ [4] http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/thousands-of-abu-dhabi-buildings-face-cuts-in-water-usage http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/thousands-of-abu-dha...