Alright, i'll admit that i were a bit quick to judge the development and the presumed decrease in costs of what are essentially large scale complex industrial plants while comparing them to airplanes (not large scale complex industrial plants). I've just realized that not only it's a bit far fetched, but the logistical/ecological impact is in a completely different ballpark, meaning that any sort of a comparison between two completely different industries is meaningless. However, i still can't understand what your point is. Are those projects unnecessary? Should the governments, researchers and companies involved stop working on these projects? Or are you trying to say that i was way too quick to be like "oh yeah, the costs are going to be low and we're all going to drink desalinated water", because if so, i've already admitted that the initial comparison was bad, albeit i still think that eventually (and eventually is the keyword) the costs are going to be low enough to resolve the water supply issues in countries such as Australia for example.

If you have an issue with my suggestion that perhaps more well-off communities could encourage the developments in the water technology, then i'd like to say that i don't mean that farmers needs should be ignored in favour of some "weirdos living in a desert".

I'm saying your comment to crooked-v didn't make sense. The economics don't work, and your argument that things get cheaper wasn't sound.

> Are those projects unnecessary?

joshuaheard's hypothetical interstate water transport project? Yes, unnecessary.

There are other lower-cost solutions. It'll be cheaper to provide free Earthships / passive homes / etc. to everyone in the desert southwest and ban outdoor watering. It'll be cheaper to build a New Cleveland and relocate the entire population of AZ to Ohio.

If you want to live in the desert, stop pretending you live in the English countryside. Every well sucking up irreplaceable water is a temporary facade against reality, and that facade is now crumbling.

> to resolve the water supply issues in countries such as Australia for example

That's to provide for coastal cities, not to provide water to Alice Springs.

> perhaps more well-off communities could encourage the developments in the water technology

Don't you understand? They did. The story mentions wells drilled down nine hundred feet to find water, and transporting water from different watersheds. That's all based on improved methods for drilling, pumping, and transporting.

Before about 80 years ago, we didn't have pumps able to drain the Ogallala. Now parts of that aquifer are 300 feet lower. Improve the technology? Lower the level. Until it's bone dry. And then what?

Sometimes the only way to win is to play a different game.

I agree on that and i didn't take a whole lot of things into account. In fact, i'll add up another aspect: making a communuty dependent solely on a desalinated water transported either by pipe or vehicles of any kind from far away, while in theory resolves one problem, introduces several extra dependencies on the operators of the supply chain and potential risks associated with fuel prices, waste containment, prices of chemicals used, etc.

"That's to provide for coastal cities..." which is closer to actual viable application, provided that those cities have a backbone to rely on in case the supply chain slows down for whatever reason.

"...Improve the technology? Lower the level. Until it's bone dry. And then what?" Yeah, sounds pointless, i understand your point now.