We have a desal plant in our town
It was built from government grants after a 12 year drought.
We had a law that required every house to have a large water tank and any planning permit for an extension required another water tank.
The law was removed when the council decided to take the money and build the desal plant even though the drought had well and truly broken with 2 once in a hundred year floods in 3 years topping up the aquifers where the town got its water supply.
Anyhow we now have a desal plant that needs to run whether the water is needed or not and most of the time its not,power bills keep going up, maintenance is constant and the taste of the water is horrible.
I just got another rain water tank and Im planning for 2 more