Eli5 if salt water turns to fresh water when it evaporates how do we have water shortages in coastal regions or water shortages in general?

Question

Eli5 if salt water turns to fresh water when it evaporates how do we have water shortages in coastal regions or water shortages in general?

In: 55

Answer 1

I live in San Diego County, where we have a desalination plant. The cost to build it was $1 billion. The cost to operate it is about $59 million per year. It only produces 7% of the water we need for the county (about 50 million gallons a day, out of 100 million gallons of seawater).