In May 2016, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported a further setback for the planned desalination plant in Marin, California. The Marin Municipal Water District's draft Urban Water Management Plan 2015 concluded that, without a major drought, existing supplies would cover demand until 2040. The board had approved the plant in 2009, and work stopped in 2010 as demand fell. According to the Marin Independent Journal, board member Jack Gibson saw desalination only as a fallback for extreme drought.
The report showed how falling consumption pushed an approved Californian desalination project into reserve. In Marin, desalination was treated as a fallback for drought years rather than as a base supply.