Desalinating Water Is Becoming "Absurdly Cheap"
Elon Musk schools Bill Maher
Bill Maher recently interviewed Elon Musk. When Maher claimed that we are running out of water, Elon replied that “Earth is 70 percent water.” Maher shot back that “you can’t drink that.” Musk calmly replied that desalination is “absurdly cheap.”
How cheap is cheap? Energy Monitor notes that “Globally, around 1% of the world’s drinking water is desalinated, but in Israel, that figure is around 25%.” Israel’s desalinated water comes from five desalination plants. The Sorek B plant has a capacity to desalinate 52.8 billion gallons a year and is contracted to produce water for $0.41 per cubic meter. There are around 264 gallons per cubic meter, so this would put the cost at one penny per 6.4 gallons.
One hundred percent of the municipal water supply in the United Arab Emirates is desalinated. Dubai bloomed out of the desert with desalination technology. There are some 186 desalination facilities currently under construction or at the pre-construction phase around the world.
According to the website Filtration and Separation, in 2012 the cost to desalinate was $0.75 per cubic meter. In 2012 U.S. unskilled labor hourly wages were $10.97. In 2022 they had increased to $15.72. This would put the time price at 4.14 minutes in 2012 and 1.56 minutes in 2022. Today we’re getting 165 percent more gallons of clean water for the same time price. Water abundance from desalination is growing at a 10.22 percent compound annual rate, doubling in abundance every seven years. This happened at the same time we added 860 million people to the planet. Population was growing at a 1.14 percent annual rate, while desalination grew almost nine times faster.
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Gale Pooley is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and a board member at Human Progress.
**Refocusing Priorities: Prioritizing Water Over War**
In a world where basic needs such as access to clean and drinkable water remain a challenge for millions of people, it is crucial to question the spending priorities of the United States government. The recent $95 billion budget approved for 2024 by the United States Senate reflects a disproportionate allocation of resources towards armed conflicts and wars instead of addressing the most urgent human needs.
While this massive budget is allocated to finance wars and conflicts that most Americans neither agree with nor support, the real needs for clean and drinkable water continue to be ignored. It is time to rethink our priorities and direct our resources towards concrete and sustainable solutions that benefit humanity as a whole.
With strategic investment, the $95 billion could finance the construction and full maintenance of up to 100 seawater desalination plants similar in size to the one in Sorek, Israel. These plants could produce pure water for human consumption at a manufacturing cost of just 0.82 cents per 2,000 liters of purified water; simplifying, this means 120 bottles of purified water for $1 (20 liters of purified water per filled bottle). This approach would not only address the global water scarcity crisis but also benefit millions of people around the world, improving their quality of life and promoting their overall well-being.
Furthermore, by investing in sustainable water infrastructures, local jobs would be created, and economic growth would be stimulated in communities that need it most. The construction and operation of these desalination plants would require a skilled and committed workforce, thus driving economic development at the local and national levels.
It is important to note that the $95 billion budget that the United States Government is currently allocating to finance different wars around the world is only for the year 2024, and for the next year 2025, an equal or even higher amount could be approved. This means that we have the capacity and resources to implement tangible and effective solutions to water scarcity on an unprecedented scale. By rethinking our spending priorities and directing our resources towards the common good, we can build a fairer, more sustainable, and prosperous world for all. It is time to end the culture of war and prioritize the most basic and fundamental human needs.
In summary, the budget allocated for military purposes can be redirected towards initiatives that address urgent global challenges such as water scarcity. By doing so, we are not only investing in the future of humanity but also demonstrating a real commitment to peace, justice, and prosperity for all. It is time to make bold decisions and act for the collective well-being.
Absurdly cheap?!? Desalinating water is getting cheaper, yes, but we still have a long way to go before it is “absurdly cheap.”
Fortunately, we are going in the right direction, as your article points out.