322 THE FUTURE OF ARID LANDS 
Vapor compression distillation 429 
Supercritical distillation 148 
Vapor compression distillation (Hickman) Te 
Electrolytic membrane 
885 ppm feed 4 
4,635 ppm feed 20 
10,000 ppm feed 40 
Conclusions. Brackish water conversion can be competitive now 
when water costs or supply are marginal. Sea water conservation 
is not there yet, but the outlook is hopeful. 
3. Transportation Costs, the economist’s third question. 
Water should be a cheap commodity, and it is, as chemical com- 
modities go. A cheap bulk chemical will sell for about $15 per ton, 
that is, $20,000 per acre-foot. Quarried bulk limestone, one of the 
cheapest chemical raw materials, will cost $1.20 per ton, that is, 
$1650 per acre-foot; salt in brine about 30¢ per ton, that is, $400 
per acre-foot. The $40 per acre-foot we are shooting for is equiva- 
lent to 3¢ per ton. Think of that. If we had to put a postage stamp 
on it to transport a ton it would double the price! And that brings 
us to the problem of transportation costs. This subject needs 
serious study by engineers. We have two operations that are com- 
parable: (a) aqueducting of water under essentially gravity flow, 
and (4) pipelining of water and liquid petroleum products. 
In the former category are the piped aqueducts such as the 
Owens, the Colorado, the Delaware. The Colorado aqueduct de- 
livers water to Los Angeles, a distance of 273 miles, for $30 per 
acre-foot, about 11¢ per acre-foot mile. Also included are the 
canals, which are cheaper, for example, the Gulf Coast Canal is 
estimated to deliver water for $8 per acre-foot, about 2¢ per acre- 
foot mile. So if we were to transport water by gravity flow, say 
so miles from the converting plant at the seashore, or 50 miles 
from a brackish source, the transportation cost would be $1 to 5 
per acre-foot. It would double the price of present irrigation water, 
increase the cost of converted brackish water by 10%, and be 
insignificant if one were already using converted sea water at 
current estimated costs. i 
Unfortunately most transportation of converted water will 
not be by gravity flow but will be uphill all the way—there’s no 
