Yes, 27 million people in dystopian poverty, or about 1 million average (mean) residents of this rich petrostate. [1] Getting to the point on costs: it's suppo

Yes, 27 million people in dystopian poverty, or about 1 million average (mean) residents of this rich petrostate. [1] Getting to the point on costs: it's supposed to be around $2/m^3 in the UAE for desalination, so ~$400/capita/year. It would be around $15/capita/year at 20 L/year, but that kind of consumption wouldn't logically exist side-by-side with billion-dollar desalination plants (if your society is developed enough to have built things like that, it's probably wealthy enough not to be counting fractions-of-a-cent aka. liters of tap water.) [1] 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... [2] http://www.zawya.com/story/ZAWYA20100808044642/UAE%20Spends%20Dh11.8%20Billion%20On%20Desalination/ http://www.zawya.com/story/ZAWYA20100808044642/UAE%20Spends%...