Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water
news.mit.edu
A new solar desalination system takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight. The system flushes out accumulated salt, so replacement parts aren’t needed often, meaning the system could potentially produce drinking water that is cheaper than tap water.
  • @Buckshot
    5•4 months ago

    Your tap water is expensive! Is that a typical rate? Its $551 for me for the 5l/hr for 5 years. $0.0075 per gallon. This is in UK. Its billed at £1.98/1000l.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•4 months ago

      It’s complicated, typically US rates aren’t a flat $/gallon. Most have flat fixed costs (meter fee, availability fees, etc) and then the actual volumetric rate charge is tacked on top of that. In my city the rate is additionally tiered, so the more water you use the more those later gallons cost. Most residential users fall into Tier 1 though, up to 4 CCF (Centicubic Foot or 748 gallons) per month, which is billed at $1.89 per CCF or $0.002526 per gallon.

      So it’s hard to use the rates alone as there are additionally fixed rate costs (around $10 a month) and other usage is billed differently (commercial and industrial have higher flat rates as well as higher flat volumetric rate). The result is that commercial and industrial users pay higher rates than residential.

      Luckily, my city also publishes raw statistics which indicates that, all things averaged together, the water costs around $0.04 per gallon.