We are admitedly at the threshold of breakthrough in desalination but it will still cost more than water from a river by a factor of 2-3.
Unfortunately we really can't dam any more rivers. We've done enough.
We can improve utilisation of existing water but this only buys us time: the law of diminishing returns applys. As someone who is a 'beef eater' and has achieved health through it the idea of moving over from free ranged beef to intensively raised chickens appals me.
There is only so mucch water we can save without an impact on our wellbeing.
The real cost of water was once very cheap. You piped it from a river of which there were plenty, then the population grew and we built dams to give us a reserve. Soon we ran out of dams we dare build and now we have no more cheap water and the elites that blew out our population with excessive immigration are making us guilty for taking a 5 minute instead of a 3 minute shower and telling us we are extravagent. The reality is they placed their short term gains (i.e succombing to special interest ethnic and business lobbies) before our wellbeing and now we are to be made contrite so that we will docilly pay extra.
"The real cost of water" is a weasel phrase I've seen used more and more. The term should be more accurately be "the increased cost of water" or perhaps the "limited supply of water" since we are now in a situation of finite resources.
