Santa Barbara to reactivate its desalination plant to tackle drought situation

#Californiadrought #desalination #water Santa Barbara had set up a desalination plant way back in 1991 when California was parched, the plant was turned on for a test run and then shut down when the skies opened up and tremendous amount of rain was dumped in, what has since been known as, the "miracle rain" on California.
It was an expensive investment and, has been sitting idle for the last 24 years and is now being reactivated in order to tackle the severe drought situation in California as reported in foxnews.com dated 23 February 2015. It is the Charles Meyer Desalination Plant in the city neighborhood known as the Funk Zone and, in technical terms, in "long-term storage mode."
Restarting the plant would involve costs to the tune of nearly $40 million to do it – the result would be that the residents of Santa Barbara would be drinking, bathing and washing clothes in the most expensive tap water in America.
As per information, Santa Barbara has been in a Stage II drought since May 2014. Stage III is as bad as it gets and, in the opinion of Santa Barbara water resources manager, Joshua Haggmark, the city could reach that flashpoint by May.