• Three proposals involve creating desalination plants using ocean water • State law will keep proposals confidential until contracts are announced • The proposals come amid years of cuts to the Colorado River water supply

Three years after an obscure Arizona agency was tasked with finding new water supplies for the state, it has received six proposals from groups hoping to tap more than $375 million in state money to develop new water sources.

The proposals include three to create desalination plants using ocean water — likely from the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

But exactly what is being proposed — and how much it will cost — remains confidential. And the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority says state law will keep it that way until its board members award one or more contracts to

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