Indicative unit cost of desalinated water from selected major seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plants, expressed in USD per cubic metre. Figures combine published water-purchase agreement (WPA) prices, plant operator disclosures, and academic benchmarking studies. They are indicative, not contract-exact.
SWRO Indicative Unit Cost
USD per cubic metre, selected major plants
Source: Israeli Water Authority filings; plant operator disclosures; Global Water Intelligence benchmarking
How to read it
Israeli SWRO unit costs sit at the low end of the global benchmark distribution. The cost gap to Carlsbad is the most-cited international comparison and reflects three structural factors: plant scale, energy-recovery technology integration, and the concentrated buyer (Mekorot) that supports long-tenor WPAs. The Gulf plants (Al-Khobar and successors) have closed much of the cost gap as scale has built up over the last decade.
What it does not show
WPA-headline prices do not equal full lifecycle cost. They exclude grid-cost subsidies, financing-rate differences, the value of the long-tenor offtake structure to the operator, and brine-disposal externalities. The benchmark is useful for category comparison; do not use it for transaction underwriting.
