text: if fresh water is scarce in coastal areas such as los angeles, why don't they use de-salinization plants? instead of taking water from the colorado river? there are two simple answers. first the customer base would not be willing to pay the cost of the water. second much of the customer base are environmentally friendly thinking people who do not want any energy consuming/pollution generating  industries in there patch of the world.  although it is sad that the resource has not been tapped on a production scale.  we are doing pretty well here in saudi arabia where we can build a joint electric generation plant combined with a desal plant.  they are pretty effective that way.  there are three main technologies each works to fit a particular service and they are getting quite cost effective.  good luck convincing people there are better ways.