The City of Santa Barbara Charles Meyer Desalination Facility was built in 1991 and 1992 as a temporary emergency water supply in response to the severe drought of 1986 to 1991.
First raised as a concept in 1919, the initial approval of funding in 1960 by California voters for the State Water Project (SWP) now includes 34 storage facilities and over 700 miles of canals and pipelines.