Desalination is an expensive and energy intensive process that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. While it may be necessary in some areas, regions should focus on more affordable and environmentally friendly water solutions like improved conservation and using groundwater or rivers. Desalination costs over 8 times as much as treating river water and over 12 times as much as treating groundwater. A shift towards sustainability is needed to address the root causes of water shortages rather than just the symptoms.

1. 4 Opinions: Desalinating the sea is wasteful. “an expensive, energy intensive and greenhouse gas emitting way to get water. It may have a place in the world's future freshwater supplies but regions still have cheaper, better and complementary ways to supply water that are less risky to the environment.“ Jamie Pittock, director of WWF's global freshwater programme. “Water desalination efforts are having a direct impact on climate change”. “The world is at a critical juncture and needs to begin cutting down on water usage, as well as improve desalination technologies”. Maude Barlow, author of "Blue Covenant”“It was found that desalinated water would cost £450 per million litres, compared with £50 per million litres for abstracting and treating river water, and £35 per million litres for abstracting and treating ground waste” Mr Shore, South East WaterWe have to solve the problems, not the symptoms. We run around chasing the symptoms of inappropriate use of our resources, and we need to get to the root cause, which has to do with the way we interact with an environment, and that's thatsustainability paradigm shift that society really is at the brink of and needs to happen before more people die in coastal disasters.” Professor Bill Dennison from the University of Marylandhttp://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/expert-opinion/dr-charles-essary-aquarium-seminar-flash-video/