We’ve talked a lot about desalination in recent years. We have examined the arguments for and against, and it can be compelling both ways.

Still, removing salt from sea water and using it to supplement California’s dwindling portfolio seems the only responsible thing to do.

Thanks to a billion-dollar experiment on the coast just north of San Diego, California and the rest of the nation will have evidence — one way or another — of the utility of desalination on a scale heretofore not seen in the Western Hemisphere.