World of Sand

[Wicht]

I am sure there are ways to justify waterstone as a commodity resource and making it work in the economics but it makes a lot more sense just to make water rare.

Sure. But among other things I was simply pointing out that you didn't have to do a lot of work, because Frank Herbert did a lot of it for you many years ago. You just have to take what he had and switch out the biological agent (ie. sandworms) for the chemical agent (waterstones), while at the same time ramping technology back, or replacing them. All players need is plausibility. You don't have to do the spreadsheets if you can fake a reasonable explanation...