Comment by handedness

> California can float those kinds of costs. So for a place like California, it's definitely something they can do if the issue is pressed on them.

That's correct. For reference, the simple upfront build cost of the desalination plant in Carlsbad in 2015 worked out to approximately $300 per county resident, which was peanuts to become effectively impervious to drought conditions in a populated and economically prosperous desert. San Diego had an over-$200B economy at the time, over $300B now.