Question

What are the drawbacks of desalinating water?

Answer 1

desalination can use waste heat from a nearby power plant or solar energy can be used directly in solar distillation. Similar to a solar still that you might use in an emergency survival situation in the desert or on a life raft, solar distillation uses the suns energy to evaporate water and then condense it. The drawback of this technology is that it yields relatively little fresh water and requires a large area. On a small scale a solar still is very effective but it isn't feasible for supplying water to a city or for irrigation of fields.
As with energy, the cheapest form of drinking water is water that is conserved. For a fraction of the cost of building and operating a desalination plant a community can support and fund water conservation efforts. These can include assistance with drought resistant landscaping, incentives for the removal of lawns, free replacement shower heads and subsidized replacement of water-using appliances, allowing and encouraging the use of graywater, and progressive water rates that punish heavy users.