California’s Precarious Future and the Promise—and Limits—of Desalination

California’s Precarious Future and the Promise—and Limits—of Desalination

Visibly low water conditions at Shasta Lake in Shasta County, on October 13, 2022. Andrew Innerarity / California Department of Water Resources. Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.  — Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  The ocean covers about 70 percent of Earth’s surface and holds 96 percent of its water. But because it’s saturated with salt, it isn’t drinkable. Sailors have known this for centuries, a…