83 comments on Peak water in Saudi Arabia
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83 comments on Peak water in Saudi Arabia
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GAIA Host Collective
Energy inputs to desal are not clear cut because there are issues like the salinity of input water, the distance input water needs to be pumped and hypersaline output water needs to be removed. In desert areas solar or waste heat (eg nuke) can be used to pre-warm evaporation cells and costs can be recovered from salt harvesting. For nondesert areas windpower can supply electricity to drive pumps required for higher capital cost reverse osmosis. These have to be weighed up against costs of the alternative to desal of partial sewage treatment to irrigation standards. Water charges seem to be around 50c to $1 per kilolitre but even that could be artificially low. Affordable for making tea but very expensive for farming.
Water price via the groundwater-reverse osmosis route in this desert area range from 90c to $A5.10 per 1000 litres.
http://www.cooberpedy.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=115
They don't have cheap NG in this particular spot. Maybe somebody grows some $10 apiece fresh tomatoes using this water but all other food appears to be brought in long distance.