Bruh, they use 300m gallons of seawater per day.

Your reply was trying to minimize the fact that they share close borders with a power plant, but that's some BS you heard around town.

That water being produced is higher quality than most of not all municipal sources of water in SD, it also provides a local source of fresh water...this is the situation in SD:

"Approximately 30% of the California state water project (SWP) goes to San Diego, but the county still imports 90% of its water from the Bay-Delta and the Colorado River."

...any local source of clean water is a boon & a step in the right direction for seafront megapopulations.