Eli5: why haven’t we started considering or implementing large scale desalinization in response to our water shortages?

Question

Eli5: why haven’t we started considering or implementing large scale desalinization in response to our water shortages?

In: 307

Answer 1

Money, my good (wo)man. Always think about money when asking why things are the way they are.

Basically desalination is more expensive than exploiting the remaining groundwater to the last drop.

We won’t adopt it in a widespread way until either the wells run dry for the people with lawmakers’ ears or desalinization becomes cheaper than groundwater.