Desalination Plants Are A Waste Of Money

I strongly believe desalination plants are a waste of time and money. Every year the government uses taxpayers money to build these plants. They are extremely expensive some costing as much as 20 million and are due to regular repairs. They are an eyesore and produce greenhouse gases. There is nothing good about them.

I accept the challenge. I must prove that desalination plants are not a waste of money
Perhaps wherever you live, desalination plants are a waste of money.
BUT in the place I live (Dubai, UAE, Middle East), the land is practically a desert. The only water body close to the city is the ocean and the backwater.
The closes freshwater from Dubai is in Al Ain which is 141 km (2 hour drive) from Dubai.
http://www.distancesfrom.com...

Even that Oasis would not be able to provide for 2.5 million people living in Dubai and Al Ain.
http://en.wikipedia.org...

What is the solution to this problem?
Desalination plants. Providing water from the vast Ocean by removing impurities like salt from seawater and adding minerals.

Without this, Dubai would experience severe water shortages which would be a massive hit to their expat (basically, immigrants) based economy since nobody will be willing to live in this place. Tourism will also take a massive hit.

In the future, Desalination will be even more essential and well worth the 20 million (US dollars I assume).
Water is already so scarce, 1/9th of the world (780 million people) lack proper drinking water, in 2030 this figure will become 47% of the world's population. There is a significant chance that whoever is reading this will be facing water problems 16 years from now.
Wars maybe even fought over water.
People keep complaining about wars fought over oil. Now imagine wars over water.
How pathetic is that?
The answer is - VERY pathetic. The solution to all of this is to use the largest source of water on our planet. The ocean, which contains 98% of the planet's water.
To use the ocean to solve our water problems, we need desalination plants. Therefore, desalination plants are not a waste of money. After all, anything is worth avoiding global drought and war.
http://www.aljazeera.com...
http://science.howstuffworks.com...

I live on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In 2010 the Gold Coast council decided to add a desalination plant. This plant has been a massive failure and was a waste of taxpayers money. It has ended up costing a massive 9 billion dollars and is due for ongoing repairs. The parts are extremely expensive and as saltwater is very corrosive they are needed frequently. The Tugan Desalination plant was a massive waste of money.

The future water shortage problems of the world that I mentioned earlier may also hit Australia at some point in time considering a large portion of Australia is a desert, it is the worlds driest continent.
Even now there are water restrictions in place in Australia. I am sure Pro is aware of the 2007 drought.
http://en.wikipedia.org...

Even so, in Asia, particularly South West Asia (middle east), desalination plants are a necessity since they supply the water required. Oases in the middle east cannot supply nearly enough water to the population. The only plausible solution to water problems is desalinating water. Which is what is being done, and which is what should be continued.
After all, what use is money if you die of thirst?

My opponent forfeited unfortunately. I extend my previous arguments.

Stuff you

Appalling lack of conduct by pro. Stuff you means stfu incase the reader did not know. I extend my previous arguments.

Vote for Con.