Jakarta. American business magnate Elon Musk tried to dispel doubts about the world being unable to get out of the water crisis, saying that the process of turning seawater drinkable has become cheaper.

Musk was speaking at Bali’s World Water Forum on Monday. According to Musk, desalination -- the process of removing salt from seawater -- can be a solution to water shortages, as the desalinated water becomes usable for human consumption or irrigation. Desalination costs have also fallen dramatically as new technologies emerged. 

“Desalination -- as most people know -- has become very inexpensive. The availability of fresh water is simply about [a matter of] energy and transport. When I talk to the very well-read, very smart people in the US, they will often think that the water crisis is unsolvable, but in fact, it is very solvable,” Musk said. 

Water makes up 70 percent of the planet’s surface, meaning that the world should easily be able to solve its water issues, said Musk -- the boss of the social media platform X and satellite communications firm SpaceX. He joked that aliens would call Earth “water” because of its abundance.

Desalination is highly energy-intensive. A solar-powered desalination process can pave the way for a more sustainable solution to the water crisis. The costs of solar power alongside its batteries to store the energy had also dropped significantly over the years, Musk told the forum.

“There are continuing breakthroughs in the efficiency of desalination. I think we have got a great water future ahead of us,” he added.

This is not the first time Musk mentioned desalination as the solution to water scarcity. Last year, Musk wrote on his social media platform X that desalination had become “absurdly cheap”.

“Turning seawater into clean, drinkable water costs $2 to $5 for 1,000 gallons. Less than half a penny per gallon is obviously absurdly cheap,” Musk said at the time. 

Aside from attending the World Water Forum, Musk is currently in Bali to launch SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service in Indonesia over the weekend.

Later that day, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said only 1 percent of the earth’s water is available for human use. He also warned that 500 million small farmers --who contribute to 80 percent of the world’s food production-- would be the most vulnerable to drought by 2050. 

The Indonesian leader did not talk about desalination but said that cooperation was pivotal in making sure that water is accessible to all to achieve shared prosperity among nations. This includes upholding an “inclusive cooperation on innovative technologies and financing”.

“No water, no life, no growth,” Jokowi said at the World Water Forum. 

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