Short followup 2: Desalination for Australia's water woes

More on Australia's implementation of desalination, very well done by the NY Times:

Arid Australia turns to desalination, at a cost

I noted the controversy about Sydney's desalination plant back in February.

Desalination requires power, and Australia burns coal to generate their power; more coal per capita than any other country. They need NUCLEAR.

From the article:

Many environmentalists and economists oppose any further expansion of desalination because of its price and contribution to global warming. The power needed to remove the salt from seawater accounts for up to 50 percent of the cost of desalination, and Australia relies on coal, a major emitter of greenhouse gases, to generate most of its electricity.

Critics say desalination will add to the very climate change that is aggravating the country’s water shortage. To make desalination politically palatable, Australia’s plants are using power from newly built wind farms or higher-priced energy classified as clean. For households in cities with the new plants, water bills are expected to double over the next four years, according to the Water Services Association.