Noticed that I used the word “real cost” of contract pricing in developed countries like Israel, Singapore etc. that are using international technology with a large part from the US. The reason that the prices being quoted for desalinization water in California are 3 times the real cost is to cover the regulatory BS and 12 years trying to get permits for a project in Huntington Beach. https://www.dropbox.com/s/a55uh7cv4cojvlt/Cost%20of%20RO%2008.pdf?dl=0 ( note 1,200 M3 = acre-ft or about $500/acre foot when MWD is already charging close to a $1000/ac-ft and with this project would almost double).

The state government has been using false and junk science to justify their “environmental concerns” ranging from the delta smelt to the impact of “entrainment” and killing of larval fish from removing seawater and turning it into fresh water.

Specifically, the “biological opinion” on the delta smelt didn’t include bird predation over a time period from the 60’s to present day when the population of smelt by cormorants increased dramatically as DDT (banned in the late 70’s taking decades to work its way out of the delta) allowed a huge increase in fish-eating birds and decrease in delta smelt. By excluding birds they were able to blame someone with deep pockets and not have endangered birds eating endangered fish. Of course, these same birds are doing a job on the salmon smolts but that can’t be mentioned. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8mpn0udr2102zs6/AAD_1c9EWM3PQMGQ4OyQVW9ma?dl=0 for the graphical data.

The “entrainment” of larval fish and zooplankton by desalinization has the state mandating a specific “mathematical model” to translate the removal of these microscopic organisms into environmental impacts (calculated, not measured impacts). Their (the California Coastal Commission) demanded model (extended APF model not published in the peer-reviewed literature or validated in the field) has a deliberately false assumption built into the mathematics (yes, the main scientific authors admit that they know the assumption is false and has been known to be false for half a century, but it gives the answers of significant impacts the regulators wanted). Without that assumption buried in mathematics, the calculated impacts would be insignificant and correspond to impacts calculated by other models of a number of adult animals to produce the number of the killed larva.

Science and knowledge are irrelevant to political water issues in Ca. in the last half of century.