The actual price of desalinated water: What Is the Price of Desalinated Water and How Does It Compare to Other Sources of Clean Water?

Price of Desalinated Water: Understanding the Cost of Producing Clean Water

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Access to fresh water is essential for human health, agriculture, economic development and the functioning of ecosystems. As the global population grows and climate change threatens water supplies in many regions, demand for this precious resource is rising sharply. Seawater desalination — the removal of salts from ocean water to make it usable — could help address freshwater shortages in coastal areas. But what is the actual price of desalinated water and how does it compare to conventional and alternative water sources?

Overview of Rising Fresh Water Demand

The world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Feeding, housing and providing water for all these people will require vastly more natural resources, placing intense strain on energy, food and water supplies.

• Global water demand rose six-fold over the past 100 years and will continue rising. By 2050, global water demand could be up to 30% higher than current sustainable supplies.
• One in four major cities already suffer from water scarcity for at least one month per year. Over 1.7 billion people live in river basins where water use exceeds recharge levels.
• Agriculture accounts for around 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, often using outdated irrigation methods with high water losses.
• Climate change is causing accelerating droughts, reduced snowpack, glacier melt, erratic monsoons and rainfall variability — allplacing further stress on water security.

With the gap between water supply and demand widening, new unconventional water sources like desalination of brackish or saltwater are attracting interest — but at what price?

Desalination Overview — Removing Salts to Produce Fresh Water

Desalination is a technology-driven process that removes dissolved salts and minerals from saline waters to produce fresh, potable water suitable for drinking or irrigation.

There are two main types of desalination processes:

1. Thermal desalination uses heat to separate fresh water from saltwater via multi-stage flash distillation or multiple effect distillation.
2. Membrane desalination uses semi-permeable membranes that filter out salt molecules, letting only water molecules pass through in a process called reverse osmosis (RO).

• Over 300 million people globally depend on desalinated water to meet daily needs — and capacity is expanding over 7% annually.
• The Middle East and North Africa lead in desalination capacity, relying on it for 70% of domestic water needs.
• Advances in membrane technologies and energy recovery systems helped cut desalination costs in half over the past 20 years.

So with desalination plants sprouting up in water-stressed regions globally, what is the actual price tag for this manmade fresh water?

Factors Impacting Price of Desalinated Water

Prices for desalinated water vary based on feed water salinity, plant size and location, energy types used and local labor/construction expenses. But key factors determining base costs per cubic meter are:

• Energy Consumption: Energy accounts for up to 50% of desalination operational costs. Reverse osmosis is more energy efficient than thermal process.
• Plant Scale: Large plants benefit from economies of scale — cutting unit costs by 60% versus smaller capacity.
• Plant Lifespan: Desal plants are long-term infrastructure assets, with high upfront capital expenditure but lower operating costs over decades of operation.
• Local Conditions: Labor, construction, land and concentrate disposal costs differ widely based on plant locations.
• Plant Ownership: Public plants focused on supply security tend to have higher costs than private plants focused on profits.

Forward-looking projects are prioritizing renewable energy and lower-cost technologies like electrodialysis to rein in expenses. Government regulations, subsidies and taxes also impact end-user desalinated water costs.

Current Price Range for Desalinated Water

The actual price of desalinated water entering distribution systems varies widely globally based on the above factors — ranging from $0.50 up to $2.50 per cubic meter:

• Middle East: Water from Saudi Arabia’s latest projects costs as low as $0.50/m3 thanks to cheap solar power and government fossil fuel subsidies.
• United States: Large inland brackish desalination plants in California and Texas supply water to cities like El Paso for $1–2/m3.
• Asia-Pacific: Singapore sells desalinated water to citizens at US$0.49/m3. Australian plants supply water to cities like Perth for around $1.75/m3.
• Europe: Prices in Spain range from $1.75-$2.50/m3 as exposure to oil prices and economic cycles add volatility.

On the upper end, small-scale desalination systems for hotels or industrial uses can cost up to $4–5/m3. Overall, while desalinated water remains pricier than conventional sources, continued innovation aims to close this cost gap.

Cost Comparison — Desalination vs Traditional Water

Even as prices fall, desalinated water supplied to end-users still costs 1.5 to 4 times more than most conventional municipal freshwater sources like lakes, rivers and shallow wells:

Rivers / Lakes $0.10 — $0.50

Groundwater / Wells $0.30 — $1.00

Rainwater Harvesting $0.15 — $1.50

Wastewater Recycling $0.30 — $1.15

Seawater Desalination $0.50 — $2.50

Brackish Desalination $0.60 — $2.00

However, as drought risks grow globally and traditional water supplies come under pressure, desalination is increasingly cost competitive for providing a secure and reliable freshwater solution in coastal areas.

Cost Comparison — Desalination vs Alternative Water Sources

Besides improving traditional water supply infrastructure like dams and pipelines, regions today can consider alternative water production options:

Fog Harvesting $0.10 — $0.50

Atmospheric Water Generation $0.50 — $2.00

Cloud Seeding $0.10 — $5.00

Imported Icebergs $0.60 — $3.50

While innovative, most remain unproven beyond small-scale pilot projects. And wide price ranges reflect high operation risks and uncertainties. So desalination remains the most scalable and reliable technology to augment freshwater supplies right now in water-stressed coastal regions.

Efforts to Reduce Desalination Prices

With global desalination capacity expected to nearly double again by 2030, intense focus continues on improving affordability by:

• Economies of scale: Bigger plants spread fixed costs over more water volume.
• Cheaper energy sources: Renewables and nuclear instead of fossil fuels.
• Lower lifecycle costs: Infrastructure and financing optimization.
• Next-gen technologies: Forward osmosis, biomimetics, capacitive deionization, etc.
• Government support: Subsidies, partnerships, supportive regulation.
• Carbon credits: Creating certified climate benefits to boost financing.

If R&D innovations continue lowering energy demands and equipment/operating costs keep improving, desalinated water prices could realistically approach $1 per cubic meter in the next decades — making it cost competitive with conventional freshwater across more geographies.

Outlook for Affordable Desalinated Water Access

By 2050, an expected $1 trillion may be invested globally in desalination infrastructure as over 90% of the world’s population live within 100 miles of oceans. With water security key to health, economics and political stability, nations able to utilize desalination to supplement stressed natural water supplies will benefit greatly.

While project selection, financing models and exact costs depend heavily on local conditions, desalinated water price trajectories following the experience curve point to significantly lower prices ahead that make it affordable for larger segments of urban and agricultural end-users.

Keeping desalination costs competitive does require factoring in environmental impacts and concentrates disposal too however — not just direct production expenses. Still, continued technology advances aimed at economically viable desalination will be crucial for regions worldwide facing acute water shortages.

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