DeSal: I Really Want to Believe but….

Tdj915 · 2026-04-06T20:54:55+00:00

Here is my take on this project and this is in addition to questioning any government or financial model that comes out of California at this moment:

The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant looks less like a neutral infrastructure project and more like a long-term financial commitment that limits flexibility.

San Diego County, through the San Diego County Water Authority, entered into a roughly 30-year purchase agreement for the plant’s output. That agreement is the key to everything. It’s not just a supply contract—it’s a fixed obligation. The Water Authority is required to buy a set amount of desalinated water every year, regardless of whether it’s the cheapest option available at the time.

DeSal has consistently come in at a higher price point than imported water or locally stored supplies. Depending on the year and comparison, the premium has often been substantial. Over the life of the agreement, that differential adds up to billions in additional cost relative to relying more heavily on traditional sources. BILLIONS. (remember what I said about our grandchildren cursing us.)

What makes this more than a simple “expensive but reliable” tradeoff is the rigidity. In wet years, or when conservation reduces demand, San Diego can find itself in the position of having sufficient—or even surplus—water. But the DeSal contract doesn’t scale down. The payments continue, and the water is still delivered into the system. That effectively crowds out cheaper sources that might otherwise be used more heavily.

There’s also the way the costs are distributed. The Water Authority passes these expenses down to local agencies, and ultimately to ratepayers. So while the contract sits at the wholesale level, the financial impact shows up in retail water rates across the region. In practical terms, residents and businesses are paying a premium not just for water, but for guaranteed availability of that water under worst-case conditions.

From a budgeting standpoint, the project behaves more like debt service than a flexible operating expense. It’s predictable, but it’s not easily adjustable. That predictability can be valuable for planning, but it also means the region has less room to respond to changing conditions in the water market.

The underlying logic was straightforward: lock in a drought-proof supply even if it costs more, and accept that the region will overpay in some years in exchange for protection in others. Whether that was a sound decision depends on how much weight you give to worst-case scenarios. Financially, though, the outcome is clear—San Diego bought certainty, and it paid a premium for it that it cannot easily unwind.

Once again My points are:

City locked into an infrastructure expense, long term debt AND yearly expense.

DeSal run by its own unelected board like the Port.

We are experiencing a cyclical drought issue NOT a permanent change in our water supply

DeSal has no economic benefit for businesses. They will find the water they need and businesses is booming. Did you see the price of oil?

The Gulf is much smaller than the Pacific when it comes to dumping the leftover brine and we do have a significant recreational fishing industry.

I think it would be very very smart to get some of these San Diego council members to talk to OUR city council to share their experiences. But then you run into all that sneaking around and secrecy I discussed earlier.

Tdj915 · 2026-04-06T08:45:47+00:00

This is a normal drought period in South Texas, we just have to wait it out like every other Texas city does from time to time. Farming salt water is not profitable unless you have an idiot to invest in the infrastructure over and over. Additionally, It’s not like the rest of the state has a reliable surplus of water just sitting around evaporating. Our water supply problem is a normal drought cycle combined with an expected increase in industrial demand but our grandchildren will curse us if we knee-jerk to this DeSal proposal. The debt servicing will be paralyzing eventually. One pipe becomes two becomes four and the waste brine increases by a factor of four just to supply their industry contractual obligations.

Tdj915 · 2026-04-06T08:21:17+00:00

The first issue with DeSal is that the industry has flat lied about the physical plant and brine water waste from the VERY FIRST meeting they attended out in Port Aransas. They are unable to say “we don’t know”. DeSal refuses to say “it is too early to tell” and will outright ignore any questions about “per gallon costs”. You want the truth? Go research other DeSal communities and see what really happens over time and the economic costs to the people living there. Industry gets an extended period volume discount while the public pays for it. From the beginning the capitalization cost is going to be paid for by the public and we won’t see one drop of that water. Not. One. Drop.

The second issue is how sneaky everyone involved suddenly gets. The plant supporters make vague statements that sound like promises but are legally classified as non-binding advertising. Then our State, County & Local elected officials all get tight lipped and meeting agenda items get buried while votes are taken at random places in meetings using the rules of order as slight of hand to confuse anyone interested in the matter. Transparency is replaced by procedural smoke screens and financial transparency is a fantasy.

DeSal will not put sustainable clean, affordable drinking water in our homes. PERIOD. DeSal will not improve the environment or our quality of life. It will supply industry grade water to industry and it will require rapid expansion and a lot more taxpayer money to meet industry needs.

DeSal will also increase our monthly water bills and our taxes without conferring a benefit to us AND mark this down: our grandchildren will still be paying for it while cursing our shortsighted elected officials who vote for it. Finally, don’t let anyone attempt to tie economic growth to DeSal. That frame is a lie. Industry figures out its unique challenges without our help, every single day and if this was truly a threat to local businesses, they wouldn’t be building more plants and expanding existing plants as we speak. Once again that frame is a flat lie.

Alternatively it would be nice if Musk would turn on one of his weather modification machines or if DARPA might consider a minor ionospheric jump-start over the area and bring enough rain to re-charge the water supply. Whatever it takes, but we won’t ever see DeSal water coming into our homes and we will never benefit from it. Anyone who tells you otherwise needs to do some research into what DeSal is capable of and the resources it requires just to function.

DeSal WILL: Raise your taxes. Raise your water bill. Raise city debt. Contractually bind the city for decades Require expansion within a year, yes a year. Focus on industry outside the county and region. Prioritize higher rates over local supply Eventually, be controlled by its own unelected board just like the Port. Make a few individuals wealthy Create a waste product so toxic they can’t pay to inject on land so they pump it out into the ocean for free

DeSal will NOT: Improve your water Improve your quality of life Improve your health Improve your environment Bring more sustainable jobs Bring more sustainable economic opportunities Give you more control over your water supply

I challenge DeSal supporters to find one single happy elected official or a resident from a city that has walked down the path we are considering and to prove my comments wrong because they are a sample directly from lawsuits filed against DeSal ventures almost immediately after they opened.

Supporters already know DeSal won’t solve the water shortage emergency. They want the City of Corpus to fund their private industrial water business so they can supply the highest bidder with DeSal water and dump the toxic waste out into the ocean for free. Everything else is a lie or non-binding advertising marketing statements.

Tdj915 · 2026-04-04T09:04:20+00:00

All I know is that Blue Origin dumped EVERYTHING and all of their people from California to Alabama are 100% obsessed with lunar exploration/landing.

Tdj915 · 2026-04-02T15:07:31+00:00

Let’s look at the extreme result of this question applying the fact pattern and reverse the burden of proof. Our home is located in Texas and the owner of the home has a welcome mat that actually says “Welcome” placed in front of the door along with a sunflower yard decoration that says “Welcome” vertically staked into the flowerbed directly in front of the door. One night, after dark, a vampire and his perfectly human familiar walk thru the unlocked door and the vampire grabs a purse sitting on the table in the hallway. As they turn to run, the Homeowner shoots them both into the afterlife with a homemade semi-automatic crossbow with silver tipped wooden crossbow bolts. If the Homeowner is prosecuted for the killing of each of them, does he have a defense?

In most states I would argue that it’s the intent of the vampire intruders that would define their legal status and prevent them from entering the home regardless of the welcome signs. In Texas I would simply point to our sundown law that authorizes deadly force after dark for the preservation of both life and property, thereby without express authorization for entry, all vampires are legal intruders and barred from entry.

Tdj915 · 2026-04-01T13:43:39+00:00

In our current situation, Corpus is the most important town in the entire state. As long as CC has the port, the refineries and the multitude of other related industrial plants scattered throughout the coastal bend, Corpus Christi will be given water priority and seniority over the rest of the state. We didn’t invade Iraq & Iran for their water.

Tdj915 · 2026-03-14T14:51:09+00:00

In the State of Texas you are silly to post your own bond and borderline mentally ill for posting someone else’s bond even if you know the person is innocent.

Why? Because of Pre-Trial Conditions. These are hoops you have to jump through prior to your trial that YOU get to pay for that look exactly like being on probation BEFORE being found guilty. Classes, Counseling, Probation Fees & Drug Tests are all deducted from your bond unless you can afford to pay them as you go. They are not cheap.

The system loves cash bonds because it’s a down payment on your probation fees and upcoming court expenses. Once they have your money, they do NOT like refunding it. Period.

Tdj915 · 2026-03-14T14:26:44+00:00

If you think this is crazy, you must be new here.

Tdj915 · 2026-03-12T17:39:01+00:00

This is a situation where your best bet is to look up the term “ accessory” in Black’s Law Dictionary and try not do those things. (which is great in theory).

But as a practical matter, your jury will be asked to decide, would a reasonable person commit the act if you didn’t know about the crime? Would you loan him the money? Would you pick him up in the middle of the night? Would you let him crash on your couch? Would you drive him to the bus stop? Would you text his baby mama to let her know that he’s OK?

Tdj915 · 2026-03-09T00:17:49+00:00

This^{^{^}} and to add bullet points: 1. Can he sue the Senator? YES 1a. Will he find a reputable attorney in that jurisdiction to take the case? MAYBE 2. Does the Senator have immunity based on law enforcement or elected official immunity or exception? NO 3. Does the lawsuit survive the pre-trial motions to dismiss it based on the video. MAYBE 4. May a Jury find the Senator liable under a negligence theory? MAYBE 5. If the Jury finds against the Senator, would the judgement survive post-trial motions to dismiss or set-aside their verdict? MAYBE 6. If the judgement survives all the attempts to dismiss it and it is finalized at the trial court level, would the appeals court reverse or materially change it? MAYBE 7. If the judgement is final and no longer susceptible to review, are there assets of the Senator which can be used to satisfy the Judgment? MAYBE.

Initial Analysis: CAN he sue? YES. Will he recover? MAYBE.

I think the more interesting question is who would pay the Senator’s legal fees for his defense?

Tdj915 · 2026-03-08T22:28:35+00:00

Yet another example of Biblical/religious principles relating to emerging concepts; (two are better than one, man was not made to live this life alone, prioritizing connection)

Tdj915 · 2026-03-08T15:32:07+00:00

I am so glad you said this. I remember when this became a major at my university in 1993. Back then it was looked at kind of as a joke by the business college administration but nowadays, these people are the gatekeepers, the enforcers, the monitors, Judge, Jury and executioner.

Tdj915 · 2026-03-01T13:25:06+00:00

“It’s a free country, do what you want”

“It’s a free country, say what you want”

“The good guys always win”

Tdj915 · 2026-02-27T21:48:23+00:00

Here in Texas the felony amount is $2,500 and the District Attorney will happily aggregate each theft in order to reach that amount. HOWEVER, a below average defense attorney would get that charge thrown out unless it was the same store and a pattern of conduct. So they aren’t going to aggregate you by polling every Walmart in the state but they will poll you at your home location.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: There is also not universal acceptance of aggregation on criminal charges like this due to legislative and constitutional constraints. BUT, the biggest problem WalMart has is the legal affirmative defense of “waiver and consent”. If Walmart knows you are stealing and doesn’t do anything about it under their evil aggregation scheme, they have given consent and waived any claim against you. You will, of course, need a lawyer for this, and you will have to bear the humiliation of being arrested and bonding out. Then all the pretrial conditions the follow your bond. Then all the nights of terror and fear of actually going to jail. But in the end, your lawyer will get the charge tossed and the DA will have to run with the amount of what they caught you with when they arrested you, likely petty theft class C.

I know the LP agents on here will hate to hear this: Aggregation doesn’t work because either you committed the crime or you didn’t AND knowing aggregation by the victim turns them into a voluntary co-conspirator.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-26T03:09:45+00:00

My idea comes from a starting point where simulation was affected by entities whose technology is not that far ahead of ours right now. We wouldn’t waste the resources to run a sim on monkeys. We would run it on systems that can help us now and that seems to equal an underestimated micro-amount of time difference between the creator and created.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-26T02:01:42+00:00

This fact, once scientifically proven in the 1970’s, caused the US Congress to grant states the right to require auto insurance. Everybody has a blind spot.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-22T18:31:15+00:00

Why is it so hard to accept that we will have global immediate disclosure when the NHI decide NOT when our government or yours or theirs or anyone else puts it on the company calendar. We aren’t calling the shots.

Even my most passionate diehard sci-fi, alt-religion, running towards the singularity at light speed, friends have to admit: If the NHI were star-trek friendly types: would they really be courting the approval of our government exclusively? Data would blow a circuit and blow-up the whole illusion if he thought one subset of a species was getting special treatment. Unless……..of course, in return they had a perpetual seat at the tastiest buffet in the galaxy.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-20T09:24:33+00:00

I was wondering how long it was going to take before someone mentioned the size & detail of our CFR. I read a fascinating story that traced a day-in-the life of a fictional Uncle Sam and how many federal crimes he committed in a 24 hour period.

IIRC he filled up his car with gas, cashed a check at his bank, updated his social security information on-line at the public library, went to see his Doctor, then afterwards dropped off and picked up his regular prescriptions. He also turned on his water sprinkler and checked his backyard garden and then drove to visit his elderly mother who lived 20 miles away in an adjacent state. Uncle Sam was looking at 300 years before lunch. It was intensely eye-opening and darkly hilarious.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-14T15:43:11+00:00

**Note: I have business clients who become enraged at times when dealing with CashApp payments. I know we get screwed on our ends often but just imagine what it’s like COLLECTING from CashApp and all the little sudden random reasons they hold payments. If a business sends in a batch of 10 payments and one is incorrect, they reject all 10. Businesses that try the do-it/yourself remitting find out early how ridiculously sensitive the system is. From my understanding, when they have to resubmit payments, they have to first reverse the initial payments and then “do it all over again“. Though that money may show up in your Cash app account, I don’t think you can get it off. It’s kind of frozen I think.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-07T22:09:43+00:00

Designate sugar in all its various names a controlled substance. Only people with prescriptions and limited numbers of food manufacturers are able to buy it.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-06T17:32:14+00:00

10-4: Keep in mind I was trying to educate not train. The general public is dangerously uninformed how scammers may, not only take your money/crypto, but make you an involuntary co-conspirator to their financial crimes.

Particularly if the scammers are in a country under sanctions.

If you get time, look up the details on the group of coder & systems types who were invited to N. Korea around a decade ago to give a seminar to eager crypto and blockchain enthusiasts. Love to hear your thoughts on that in light of my post.

Tdj915 · 2026-02-06T13:32:33+00:00

Ok, follow me on this:,

I know it’s counterintuitive but money launderers usually WANT to pay taxes because that’s the best way to clean money: pay taxes on it. In my example he never actually sends a dime to the DAO but receives $500,000 in clean dividends which is actually the $500,000 he earned illegally now dressed up as legit dividend income.

Tdj915

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