StG
My apologies, to me an opinion with out facts repeated several times is an obsession sorry if I misunderstood.

My observation on Qld still stands. Qld has much going forward but its inherent ultra conservatism holds it back.
While up there and with my links the fact that the Borg and Hansen are even taken seriously is a terrible inditement. Neither side impresses me much. I wonder at the SOME Bureaucrats i.e. those who oversaw Bundy hospital. I therefore wonder at the quality of advice from said. Qld great place and could really be a leading state.

Hasbeen
You raise a very good point. I suspect because modern folk (most often city folk) are so far from the reality of food, power and increasingly production they fail to value what is provided. Then bitch and complain if we’re asked to pay more. Consequently we want more and pay less. Profit manipulation etc distorts reality.
We have always under paid the real cost of both water and power. But it would be political suicide for a govt to put people on a true value basis. If they did Both the two purified versions of water under question would be viable.
The problem with privatizing either is that commercial mentality tends to string out or under resource maintenance and upgrades to maximize profits. This has been shown in several countries around the world. I agree with Pelican on the other topic in that we can’t afford a catastrophic breakdown but with business mentality this is inevitable.

Hasbeen
A wind farm for a desal plant does not have to be next door.
Although coastal areas are probably reasonable.
A wind farm could be miles away and it is just a bit of arithmetic in
the grid control computer to do the appropriate accounting.
Simple isn't it.
Anyway the cost of desal is not an issue. It does not matter how
much it costs, it is cheaper than the alternative by millions of times.

Bazz, you miss the point.

1/ Windfarms are just a bl@@dy nuisance, more trouble than they are worth, when trying to intergrate them with a propper grid. Ask the Danes.

2/ Tranmission costs for wind generated power, to point of usage, often can take most of the life of the instillation to repay the energy input into the building of the transmition lines.

3/ It should not be too hard to set up a plant that automatically expanded, & contracted its water production to use all the power available at any time. It's only when you mix feeds, that problems would be constant.

4/ yes the sights should be complimentary, by nature, & transmition losses, & costs, near zero.

If scientists tell me that recycled sewage is purified and fit to drink and testing proves this to be the case, I am more than happy to drink it. We already take water from rivers and lakes and dams that have a degree of sewage from animals, particularly cattle, that finds its way into the initial water supply. I fail to see the difference, albeit the concentration may not be the same. There are many people, who are even considered lucky, that get their drinking water from tanks and don't even filter it. Consider for a moment the pollution that comes down with the rain and flows off your roof together with the possum and bird sh one T, not to mention the rotting garbage and insects in your gutters..............recycled sewage........it's all emotional.

Yes Hasbeen, I am aware of the stability problems of wind farms.
However they are setup and run to suit the network load.
If the capital cost of the wind or solar generators is charged to the
desal plant the accounting can be done when its output is used elsewhere.
The rest of the time when the desal plant is not needed the wind farm
output can be charged as a credit to the cost of the desal plant.
it is easy. The grid control computer just does it all in its spare time.

It is just that the average Jo Blow does not understand these things
and so goes off at a tangent complaining about the cost of the
electricity for the desal plant and then goes from that demo to one
demanding alternative energy wind farms !

You couldn't make it up !

I wonder how many of the anti recycling group smoke which fills thier lungs full of toxic gunk. Recycles sewage as they put it can't be as bad as this can it!

You are all missing the point. Nobody has to drink it and, if you do then boil your 1 or 2 litres per day, all in the name of a decent life without water restrictions.