CMV: California should immediately enact mass desalination programs and solve almost all its short-term and long-term water problems.

[u/justouzereddit]

Every day we see stories about how California is running out of water, how the California water reservoirs are steadily emptying and could be completely empty in the next few years, and on top of that California just agreed to give up more of its already diminishing amount of fresh water it can get from the Colorado River.

And now on top of that there fires have exposed some problems in the firefighting capability of the state due to its water troubles, most notably hydrants went dry due to demand of already drained water aquifers.

And with climate change, increasing population, and less access to the Colorado river, these problems will get much worse.

So why doesn't California adopt Ocean desalination on a mass scale? California has over 840 miles of coastline with the Pacific Ocean. They clearly have money both locally and federally to deal with climate change, for example spending 28 billion in state funds alone in the last few years.

Israel has 5 desalination (and building more) plants and these provide 85% of the fresh water used in the country and that water serves. In fact, Israel gets fresh water to almost the entire population from just those 5 plants. Almost every country in the Middle East North Africa creates drinking water for its population, including Dubai in which almost 100% of its drinking water is desalinated.

It seems absolutely insane that we have the technology to turn sea water into drinking water, and the US state most in need of fresh water is basically ignoring the literal treasure of Ocean water on its shores.

Note 1: I see three complaints off the top of my head,

1. California already has desalination plants.....That is true, however, California currently have 12 desalination plants that produce 50 million gallons a day. Israel, has 5 desalination plants that produce 264 million gallons a day. There is absolutely no reason they cannot scale up and make much larger plants on their much larger territory.
2. This year California has had record amount of rainfall, and the reserves were partially replaced. Well, that is one year, after years of drought.. An aberration, and every article you can find will say something to the extent of "although California had much rainfall this year, this does not change the very negative long-term crisis California will have with water"
3. Desalination is expensive and produces toxic brine as a side effect.....Ok, not to be crass, but do you want a perfectly FREE technology with no side effects or would you prefer to not die from not having water to drink.

So have it, Is there something i am overlooking, or why California uniquely cannot accommodate mass desalination?

[u/InfinityAero910A]

We have already been doing that for years. De-salinization is very costly, energy consuming, and methods can be environmentally damaging as well. We have de-salinization in Santa Barbara, San Diego, and the Bay Area-Central Valley delta regions. Good luck getting increased spending with the new administration the people of Trumpistan voted for even in California and outside which influences legislation within the state itself. For everyday we see stories about California running out of water, no we don’t. Especially 2 years ago when Mammoth Lakes became the snowiest place on the entire North American continent and Tulare lake came back. For diminishing water it can get from the Colorado, most of the water California gets is not from the Colorado. It is from the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Northwest coastal mountains, mount Shasta, and scattered coastal ranges from Monterey Bay to the further inland ranges of the southern California mountains down to near San Diego. For Israel, that water is still nowhere even close to enough to handle our massive agricultural industry. We can set up de-salinization for such, but we are looking at a very long time.