[Reeses]

If mass fresh water is needed it might be cheaper to simply spray offshore ocean water into the air during midday and let mother nature separate the fresh water out and air lift the water in. The resulting clouds would cool the climate lowering air-conditioning and wildfire costs. If wanted Southern California could be turned into a rain forest. But leftists would change from global warming to complaining about man-made clouds.

[Straight Vermonter]

The Discovery channel had a show a while back that theorized a wall of pipes near the ocean. There would be pumps that would drive seawater up the pipes and back into the ocean. Since the seawater is cooler than the surrounding air, water vapor (freshwater) would condense on the pipes and be recovered.

I’m not sure what volume of water could be acquired this way but the idea is clever.