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This popped up on HN reasonably recently https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2021/05/04/so-you-want-to... - basically "it's not necessarily as simple as that, where are you getting the water from?".

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Is this still an issue when fusion power is available?

No, but the parent to my comment implied trees as being the source of that fusion power. Nobody's going to be able to use trees to power the desalination plants that allow us to irrigate the land so that we can grow those trees.

People have been growing coppice forests with salt tolerant trees such as willow for ages. No need to desalinate, the trees do it themselves. You can also use algae, which can grow in salt water.

The fusion energy that is powering the system is that of our sun. No perpetual motion machine required, our planet is being bathed in outside energy.

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