Desalination is an important story in California, and an interesting one everywhere, but not one that has gotten huge coverage from California media. So it is noteworthy that readers need to turn to a UK national paper, The Guardian, for good coverage of a major U.S. environmental issue.

Currently, as many as 18 desalination plants are under consideration in California, Dan Glaister reports, a prospect with significant environmental implications in a state where water resources are critical and stretched thin. Some 90 percent of California's water is consumed 250 miles or more from its origin. With the objectivity of an outside observer, Glaister quotes the old truism about how God meant Southern California to be a desert -- a view not often repeated by the region's growth-boosting media. He also discusses the implications of privatizing a public resource with a frankness rarely found in American media. While he cites concerns of environmentalists, he does not make them the center of his story. The story is interesting on the technical level, especially the discussion of reverse osmosis and the tie-ins with power plants. One is left with the feeling that it is not a coincidence that UK media are covering important environmental stories neglected by U.S. media -- and another Guardian story on the same April 13 date, by David Teather about the resurgence of the U.S. nuclear industry 25 years after the Three Mile Island accident, only reinforces that impression. (See http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1190502,00.html)