A recent and welcome news release informed us that, following several years of severe drought in California, water supplies had recovered to the extent that state officials suspended state-wide restrictions on water use. Regulation of water use reverted to local authorities. During the drought, there had been repeated suggestions that hard-hit localities (San Diego was one) might consider investing in desalination plants. A common response was that California might be wise to take a hard look at Australia’s experience with large-scale desalination during its long-lived “millennium drought” several years earlier. John C. Bergstrom and Alan Randall explain. […]