Yeah, well I imagine population density in the region must be such that a single-solution panacea won't work. And a multi-faceted approach (of which desalination is a part) is a more realistic (albeit complex) to addressing water supply issues.
Although they have their use in emergency situations, I don't particulary care for regulatory water use restrictions. (low-flush toilets, only being allowed to wash your car or water your lawn on certain days, etc. etc.) Instead, I focus on promoting the mundane infrastructure necessary to assure adequate supply. Yeah, it costs money. But in turn, you get long term infrastructure that benefits the public for decades (even though most people just take it for granted that it'll *always* be there.) The mix of solutions depends on the specific situation of each community, of course. But building desalination plants, dams, reservoirs, waste-water treatment plants, replacing antiquated pipelines, etc. etc. are necessary projects that we have to address sooner or later. IMHO, it's better to address them sooner rather than be confronted with shortages.