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Arizona will provide taxpayer money to help private companies develop plans for at least two and possibly three desalination plants in California or Mexico under proposals approved by a state agency’s board on Wednesday.

The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority board also approved initial development of several other projects from the two applicants that proposed new Arizona water supplies and made it past a lengthy review process. Those proposals would rely on treating wastewater, capturing storm water and storing it underground or making agricultural irrigation more efficient, with the projects located in California, Colorado, Utah or Mexico.

The Maui County Department of Water Supply is taking the first steps toward developing its first publicly owned desalination facility in West Maui. The project would extend the arid region’s water resources beyond current ground and surface water limitations that currently force the department to cope with a Stage 2 water shortage.

With a desalination plant, the department would have additional water resources to meet growing demand including direly needed housing developments, such as the 500-home Pulelehua project, which is currently stalled without available water.

Feelings were running high—and interest was evident—as hundreds of people turned out for our fall conference last week in Sacramento. The lunchtime program featured a panel of five experts representing water interests from across the state.

The day opened with a short video celebrating the PPIC Water Policy Center’s first 10 years, followed by a welcome by center director Letitia Grenier, who thanked the audience for braving the rain to attend. “An atmospheric river decided to come to our water conference this year, which is very on-brand,” she said with a smile.

When Cornell University systems engineer Fengqi You started modeling the environmental footprint of data centers three years ago, the A.I. boom was just beginning. Even then, You and his colleagues noticed something missing from the conversation.

“When we started this, we saw that A.I. was growing very fast,” You said. “It was clear it would have to be aligned with power-grid planning, with water and other resource planning. There were no discussions about these topics — but we wanted to bring real numbers, rigorous analysis on A.I.’s physical footprints.”