Green: Desalination Plant in North California Put On Hold - Judge Said Environmental Study FLawed (Or Is There More To It)

I don't know about desalination plants or similar efforts in this regard but on the surface, it sounded like something that we can use.  But the judge in northern California, near SF, ruled against a $105 million effort to turn salt water into drinking water.

The issue is that the environmental impact study was ruled to be flawed.  

What is also interesting is that there are opponents of desalination efforts.  I'm just trying to understand what the issues are.  Is it like the environmentalists who are against wind power because they could harm birds?  

Here's how I see it.  We need to move forward on these kinds of project.  Water scarcity is a growing issue due to changes in weather pattern and growing populations all over the world.  

I envision a future (hopefully not too distant) where these water plants would dot up and down the coasts all over the world where water scarcity is an issue.  Would that be so bad?  Conservation is great and we can and need to do more but there is only so much that can be done once you hit a specific threshold on conservation.

Source:  SCPR.