California - "seawater desalination can be a viable, reliable and drought-proof drinking water source" ...

Excerpt from San Francisco Chronicle:

MARIN COUNTY - Desalination viable for drinking water, engineers report
But plant would be expensive -- at least $111 million

7 February 2007

Remove the salt and filter the slimy stuff out of the San Francisco Bay and the water would be perfectly good to drink, according to an engineering report on a seawater desalination pilot program in Marin County.

The problem, according to the study, is that building a large plant to desalt the water would cost between $111 million and $173 million.

The report, which will be presented Thursday to the Marin Municipal Water District board, analyzed a small-scale desalination plant built by the district as a pilot project that ran for 11 months starting in June 2005. The study is part of the information the district board will need before deciding later this year whether a full-scale plant should be built in Marin, providing up to 10 million gallons of drinking water a day, about 20 percent of daily usage.

See - Marin County contemplates full scale desalination plant.