“Where’s the power going to come from? Taking salt out of seawater takes HUGE amounts of power.”
I assume that when some lists the costs of desalinized water, they’re including the cost of the energy involved.
Given that, and according to the article below (and plenty others), the cost comes out to 0.39 CENTS per gallon (well under a penny per gallon). Where I live in Texas, I pay between 1.5 and 2.0 CENTS per gallon, and we use about 4000 gallons per month. Given the cost listed below, another 0.40 CENTS per gallon would raise my water bill by $16 a month, at most (from $60 to $80 to $76 to $96). Yes it’s more, but I would GLADLY pay that to NOT have to be lectured about water use, told not to wash my car, told when to water my law, etc.
The REAL PROBLEM that the Left has with desalinization is that it uses SOME ENERGY, and even a relatively minuscule amount of energy is UNACCEPTABLE to them, since most of that energy is still carbon-based. So they bitch...don’t fall for their propaganda, do the math instead.
https://www.advisian.com/en/global-perspectives/the-cost-of-desalination
“Since the 1960s, the cost for Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF) to desalinate water has decreased approximately by a factor of 10, with approximate unit costs of US$ 10.00/m3 in the 1960s to less than US$1.00/m3 ($3.79 per 1000 gallons)”
| Item | Amt $ | Amt % |
|---|---|---|
| 5/8" service charge | 28.58 | 17% |
| 12.00 CCF at $5.4087 per CCF | 64.90 | 39% |
| 7.00 CCF at $6.762 per CCF | 47.33 | 28% |
| WRAM charges or credits | 7.54 | 5% |
| CPUC Fee | 2.22 | 1% |
| Other Charges & Credits | 6.55 | 4% |
| Local tax (3.5%) | 5.50 | 3% |
| Public Purpose Programs | 4.21 | 3% |
| Total | 166.83 | 100% |
Here's the comparison of the Desal price you quoted vs. what I paid:
| CCF | Gallons | Price $ |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 8,980 | 34.03 |
| 7 | 5,240 | 19.86 |
| Desal price $/1,000 gal | 3.79 | |
| Cal Water Price | 112.23 | |
| Desal Price | 53.89 |
Obviously the price I paid includes all the physical plant to treat and distribute water which isn't included in the Desal water price. But how much would that be? Double the water cost? Triple? Either way (2X or 3X the water cost), it looks like the price of delivered desalinated water is competitive.
That's a surprising result.
The other thing that is not so surprising is that ONE-THIRD of my bill is non-water fees and taxes.