San Diegans are blessed with miles of beautiful coast and beaches, but all of that may be vastly different in a little more than one human lifetime. Children born today may see a San Diego with six more feet of sea by the time they are 84. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps track of various climate scenarios, and the six-foot-rise projection is the more dire calculated. Despite San Diego’s climate action plan, few communities are making concrete plans to deal with a future with more water, thanks to melting ice at the poles.

Although it’s not exactly news that California could use some more water, new research has revealed just how extensive the need has become – and at what cost for the state economy. The good news is, new research of a much different kind has revealed the answer: affordable, large-scale ocean desalination.

California’s water problem is so extensive that only a widely scoped solution will do. In a new UC Davis study reported by CNBC, water shortages this year were determined to threaten a whopping $550 million cost to the state’s agricultural industry, plus over 1,800 lost jobs.