Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia investigate nuclear plants to power desal
Posted by waterweek on 17 October 2007
Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia were all investigating building nuclear plants to power their water schemes – according to US Department of Energy figures, it could take anywhere between 2.8 and 9.8 megawatts of electricity to produce 100,000 litres of drinkable water, wrote Robin Bromby in The Australian (13/10/2007, p.3).
Price increases for Aus: In other words, it was costly. There’s still obviously some guesswork involved, but the figures bandied about suggested that water bills of the future would cause some shock. Sydney users may, on average, pay as much as $272 a year more simply for desalination; Adelaide house-holders could find their bills rise anywhere between $80 and $160 a year; in Western Australia expectations were more modest, with talk of another $30 hike when the second desalination plant came on stream.
The Australian, 13/10/2007, p. 3
