Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Is Desalination Affordable?—Regional Cost and Price Analysis

  • Published:
Water Resources Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Desalination has proven to be a reliable and efficient water supply option in many countries, especially in times of water scarcity. However, high desalination costs and high prices for desalinated water (twice or three times higher than those from traditional water sources) have been hindering an uptake and the development of desalination in many countries. Applied desalination technology, capital and operational costs, production capacity, water salinity are just a few factors determining the final cost of desalinated water that varies considerably between $1.7–9.5/kgal ($0.45–2.51/m3). The final prices for desalinated water and the related costs for local municipalities are among the most crucial determinants of the overall short- and long-term effectiveness of desalination processes. This paper provides an in-depth analysis on economics of desalination with country specific examples. It depicts a comprehensive picture of cost variability of desalinated water and points out challenges for cost-effective desalination in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Afgan NH, Darwish M, Carvalho MG (1999) Sustainability assessment of desalination plants for water production. Desalination 124(1–3):19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akgul D, Cakmakci M, Kayaalp N, Koyuncu I (2008) Cost analysis of seawater desalination with reverse osmosis in Turkey. Desalination 220(1–3):123–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alstom, Alstom completes Shoaiba III power plant ahead of schedule (2014) http://www.alstom.com/press-centre/2012/5/alstom-completes-shoaiba-iii-power-plant-ahead-of-schedule/ (05/14/2014)

  • AMTA (American Membrane Technology Association), Membrane Desalination Costs, AMTA (2007)

  • Australian Government, National Water Commission (2008) Emerging trends in desalination: a review. Waterlines Report Series 9

  • Barrington DJ, Ho G (2014) Towards zero liquid discharge: the use of water auditing to identify water conservation measures. J Clean Prod 66:571–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baten R, Stummeyer K (2013) How sustainable can desalination be? Desalin Water Treat 51(1–3):44–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker N, Lavee D, Katz D (2010) Desalination and alternative water-shortage mitigation options in Israel: a comparative cost analysis. J Water Resour Protect 2:1042–1056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BenJemaa F (2009) Water use and efficiency branch. Water recycling and desalination. Logistics for Deploying Mobile Water Desalination Units, State of California—Department of Water Resources

  • Bennett A (2011) Cost effective desalination: innovation continues to lower desalination costs. Filtr Separat 48(4):24–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett A (2012) Cost effective desalination: innovation continues to lower desalination costs. http://www.filtsep.com/view/23919/cost-effective-desalination-innovation-continues-to-lower-desalination-costs/ (04/29/2014)

  • Cob SS, Güner FEG, Hofs B, van Spronsen J, Witkamp GJ (2014) Three strategies to treat reverse osmosis brine and cation exchange spent regenerant to increase system recovery. Desalination 344:36–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colley H, Ajami N (2012) Key issues for desalination in California: cost and financing. Pacific Institute, Oakland

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooley H, Gleick PH, Wolff G (2006) Desalination with a grain of salt. A California perspective

  • Crisp G, Swinton EA (2008) Desalination in Australia: a review. Water 35(2):94

    Google Scholar 

  • Daniels T, Daniels K (2003) The environmental planning handbook for sustainable communities and regions. APA/Planners Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Desaldata.com, Desalination data base. Global Water Intelligence (2013) http://www.desaldata.com/

  • Drouiche N, Ghaffour N, Naceur MW, Mahmoudi H, Ouslimane T (2011) Reasons for the fast growing seawater desalination capacity in Algeria. Water Resour Manage 25(11):2743–2754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Einav R, Harussi K, Perry D (2003) The footprint of the desalination processes on the environment. Desalination 152(1–3):141–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GBRA (2013) A publication of the Guadelupe-Blanco Water Authority, River Run

  • Ghaffour N (2009) The challenge of capacity-building strategies and perspectives for desalination for sustainable water use in MENA. Desalin Water Treat 5:48–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghaffour N, Missimer TM, Amy GL (2013) Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability. Desalination 309:197–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graves M, Choffel K (2004) Economic siting factors for seawater. Desalination Projects along the Texas Gulf-Coast, Technical Papers, Case Studies, and Desalination Technology Resources. Texas Water Development Board

  • Greenlee LF, Lawler DF, Freeman BD, Marrot B, Moulin P (2009) Reverse osmosis desalination: water sources, technology, and today’s challenges. Water Res 43:2317–2348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gude VG, Nirmalakhandan N, Deng S (2010) Renewable and sustainable approaches for desalination. Renew Sust Energ Rev 14:2641–2654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GWI (Global Water Intelligence) (2013) Market profile and desalination markets, 2009–2012 yearbooks and GWI website. http://www.desaldata.com/ (05/23/2014)

  • Haddad BM (2013) A case for an ecological-economic research program for desalination. Desalination 324:72–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helfer F, Sahin O, Stewart RA (2014) Bridging the water supply–demand gap in Australia: coupling water demand efficiency with rain-independent desalination supply. Water Resour Manage 1–20. doi:10.1007/s11269-014-0794-9

  • IAEA (2013) DEEP 5. Desalination Economic Evaluation Program. IAEA, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Karagiannis IC, Soldatos PG (2008) Water desalination cost literature: review and assessment. Desalination 223:448–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kavvadias KC, Khamis I (2010) The IAEA DEEP desalination economic model: a critical review. Desalination 257:150–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koyuncu I, Topacik D, Turan M, Celik MS, Sarikaya HZ (2001) Application of the membrane technology to control ammonia in surface water. Water Sci Technol 1(1):117–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Lapuente E (2012) Full cost in desalination. A case study of the Segura River Basin. Desalination 300:40–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lattemann S, Hopner T (2008) Environmental impact and impact assessment of seawater desalination. Desalination 220(1–3):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabrouk AN, Nafey AS, Fath HES (2010) Steam, electricity and water costs evaluation of power-desalination co-generation plants. Desalin Water Treat 22(1–3):56–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mandel M (2012) Water from the sea: the risks and rewards of israel’s huge bet on desalination. http://www.ibtimes.com/water-sea-risks-and-rewards-israels-huge-bet-desalination-723429 (05/14/2014)

  • Miller JE (2003) Review of water resources and desalination technologies. Available from: Sandia National Laboratories. http://www.prod.sandia.gov/cgi-bin/techlib/access-control.pl/2003/030800.pdf (05/09/2014)

  • Muenk F (2008) Ecological and economic analysis of seawater desalination plants. Diploma Thesis, University of Karlsruhe, Institute for Hydromechanics, Karlsruhe

  • Pankratz T (2008) Total water cost discussion rages on. Water Desalin Rep 44(34), GWI

  • Pankratz T (2014) Desalination data base

  • Reddy KV, Ghaffour N (2007) Overview of the cost of desalinated water and costing methodologies. Desalination 205:340–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadhwani JJ, Veza JM, Santana C (2005) Case studies on environmental impact of seawater desalination. Desalination 185(1–3):1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauvet-Goichon B (2007) Ashkelon desalination plant—a successful challenge. Desalination 203:75–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sethi S (2007) Desalination product water recovery and concentrate volume minimization (DRAFT). American Water Works Association Research Foundation Project #3030. Carollo Engineers, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation

  • Sobhani R, Abahusayn M, Gabelich CJ, Rosso D (2012) Energy footprint analysis of brackish groundwater desalination with zero liquid discharge in inland areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Desalination 291:106–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanford University (2014) The Colorado river’s salty tears: evaluating the Yuma desalination plant. http://west.stanford.edu/students/soco/yuma-desalination-plant (05/14/2014)

  • Tapsuwan S, Burton M, Mankad A, Tucker D, Greenhill M (2014) Adapting to less water: household willingness to pay for decentralised water systems in Urban Australia. Water Resour Manage 28(4):1111–1125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsiourtis NX (2001) Desalination and the environment. Desalination 141(3):223–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verdier F (2011) MENA regional water outlook. Part II: desalination using renewable energy. Task 1—desalination potential. Fichtner, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Vince F, Marechal F, Aoustin E, Breant P (2008) Multiobjective optimization of RO desalination plants. Desalination 222(1–3):96–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voutchkov N (2010) How much does seawater desalination cost? Water Globe Consulting, Texas Innovative Water

  • Water Technology (2014a) Ras Al Khair desalination plant, Saudi Arabia. http://www.water-technology.net/projects/-ras-al-khair-desalination-plant/ (05/14/2014)

  • Water Technology (2014b) Shoaiba, Saudi Arabia. http://www.water-technology.net/projects/shoaiba-desalination (05/14/2014)

  • Water Technology (2014c) Ashkelon, Israel. http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel/ (05/14/2014)

  • Wetterau G (2010) Cost trends in desalination. Border Governor’s Binational Desalination Conference; May 26–27, 2010

  • Wittholz MK, O’Neill BK, Colby CB, Lewis D (2008) Estimating the cost of desalination plants using a cost database. Desalination 229(1–3):10–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Younos T (2005) The economics of desalination. J Contemp Water Res Educ 132:39–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yun TI, Gabelich C, Cox MR, Mofidi AA, Lesan R (2006) Reducing costs for large-scale desalting plants using largediameter, reverse osmosis membranes. Desalination 189:141–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Y, Tol RSJ (2005) Evaluating the costs of desalination and water transport. Water Resour Res 41(1–10):269–287

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the STARR (State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Program) project for providing the desalination data base license. The initial work has been conducted at the University of Texas at Austin. The paper has been prepared and completed at the University of Oklahoma.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, The University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd St., Norman, OK, 73019-1081, USA

    Jadwiga R. Ziolkowska

Authors
  1. Jadwiga R. Ziolkowska
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jadwiga R. Ziolkowska.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ziolkowska, J.R. Is Desalination Affordable?—Regional Cost and Price Analysis. Water Resour Manage 29, 1385–1397 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0901-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0901-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation