desalination is cheaper than the current cost of water in many large cities, by a meaningful factor

capex is hard to decrease though

summary in their words:

• Desalinated water now costs as little as $0.40 per ton.
• This is likely to drop to $0.30 in the next decade.
• This is already cheaper than residential water in most cities in the world.
• It’s also in the ballpark of prices of industrial water. We could use desalinated water in industries that are not too thirsty or in countries with water scarcity.
• Many agricultural products could be economically viable in new areas if they were irrigated with desalinated water today.
• Even products that require a lot of water could be viable, as long as they are produced in greenhouses and their water is not lost to the ground.

actually doing it seems hard though, don’t forget pipes and land acquisition :/