But sometimes fiercely resisted. I don’t know if the desalination plant will happen near Monterey.

What are the public arguments against desalination? Are there any interests at risk?

Two questions: 1. What is the power source? 2. Where does the extra salty brine go after desalination?

These aren't big questions for small operations but become important for larger plants.

I mean, these questions have simple and quick answers. 1) The California Grid. and 2) The nearby ocean.

The briny water can be made as close in salt content to seawater as you want, it just increases costs slightly.

I think what you're saying is that environmental review takes years. But I don't think delays really help the environment. They just slow progress.

If not done properly it can kill sea life.

Water is fungible. It doesn't make sense to give water for almost free to farmers to grow grass for cows, then turn around and burn energy to desalinate drinking water.

Instead, we should take the desalination plant money, buy out the farms, shut them down and take their water for drinking. Far more environmentally friendly and a lot cheaper too.

I actually agree with this in principle, but isn't California a huge source of food for much of the west coast? Where will the food be grown then?

Yes and no. There are crops which make sense to grow in California due to the climate, which we shouldn't grow elsewhere. Alfalfa isn't one of them. We export alfalfa to other countries, essentially exporting our water. Cow feed can be better grown elsewhere (and cows can be better raised elsewhere)

Another problem crop in California is rice. We simply shouldn't grow rice in this state. Most rice is grown in the southern US where water is plentiful. We could stop growing rice without significant impact. More water is used in California growing rice than all of Los Angeles residential use put together.

We could cut these crops significantly without appreciable impact to our food supply, using a fraction of our existing conservation budgets, and not have to worry about residential conservation for decades or longer.

There's a pretty good intro to the economic breakdown here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/11/california-water-you-d...

In states with a more reasonable water usage?

If it’s so valuable, then it seems they’d be fine to pay the same amount for water as municipal utilities do.

Pretty much anywhere else with sunlight, soil and water?

Lot of liberals think about development the same way conservatives think about government. AKA starve the beast. Conservatives by trying to cut taxes. Liberals block things that they think enable development.

In the SF bay area, I know there is a desalination plant in Newark. They gave tours of it once a year.