[amluto]

Why do you think that the cost is an increase?

I pay quite a bit more than $3/kgal, and a large fraction of that goes toward funding the SFPUC’s massive infrastructure for bringing Hetch Hetchy water to the Peninsula. A desalination plant would be located on the coast or on the bay and would not require this infrastructure.

As far as I’m concerned, the problem is the capital cost of the plant and the plumbing to safely suck in saltwater and discharge brine and has essentially nothing to do with electricity.

The situation isn’t helped by the fact that, in average and wet years, demand for desalinated water would be nil, since the Hetch Hetchy infrastructure already exists.

[Retric]

Sewage and distribution is not included in these costs. Current systems get water for almost nothing it’s mostly distribution and sewage systems that you’re currently paying for.

As to why this is, a single pipe carrying 1,000x as much water costs no where near 1,000x much per foot. Each home might only need 1/10,000,000 the water, but it’s got to be built for peak demand not average useage. On top of this, people don’t live at sea level, so you need to pump that sea water up before you can use it.

PS: Not to mention most distribution systems leak significantly, that 3$ assumes 100% efficiency at 50% it’s more like 6$.

[amluto]

None of this is at all relevant to my point. SFPUC charges over $4/ccf for wholesale water. This does not include distribution costs, and this is paid regardless of whether the water is sold, leaks, or is used for firefighting. If SFPUC’s wholesale customers purchased desalinated water and managed to escape their SFPUC contracts, they would eliminate this expense.

edit: http://bawsca.org/water/rates/wholesale

[Retric]

That’s not exclusive price just per gallon of water.

https://sfwater.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=774...

Wholesale untreated water is 1.02$ per 1,000 gallons. Page 16: ( 0.76 per 748 Gallons delivered). Plus a fixed fee for the size of the pipe (22.67$ for a one inch pipe.)

[amluto]

Curious. I’m pretty sure my water provider pays the BAWSCA rate. I don’t know why it’s so different.

edit: You’re looking at rate W-24. BAWSCA users seem to pay rate W-25, which is far higher. I don’t know exactly what the difference is.

[dillonmckay]

My municipality loses about 60% of its water supply due to leaks.

They buy the water from the neighboring municipality for $3/1,000 gallons, and sell it to the users of the system for $23/1,000 for the first 1,000 gallons.

[amluto]

Yikes! I thought I paid a lot for water, but you have me beat.

[londons_explore]

$1000 per 1000 gallons is the price in some parts of the world.

You soon realise half a gallon is plenty to drink, and you don't really need water for much else.

[thinkcontext]

> As far as I’m concerned, the problem is the capital cost of the plant and the plumbing to safely suck in saltwater and discharge brine and has essentially nothing to do with electricity.

Nothing to do with electricity? What is this based on? Everything I've read indicates it's a very large cost. For example, this [1] paper puts electricity's share of costs at 44% vs 37 for fixed costs.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1936-704X....

[sologoub]

Seems like using our fog might be an easier idea short term: https://csumb.edu/fernandezlab/fog-collection-project