narrator: on this episode of "earth focus," the most basic human need is also its most precious commodity. in california's central valley, home to 19% of the food producti in e wword, manan live witutut cle dririnkg wawater hilele the e ee of rocco's saha regio harvting water from g g has the potential toeeeeply pactct a cultu.. [camera cus ringnglicking] [shutter cliing]

sherhuhunterthatat w thdrdrug sre---- theusust-cored d buding.. on e e othesididef it w w the barr r shop the ststory allllenorth as inonow its cocolol lenswor--when hretired om the ay--wantea plac where he uld go a settle with his people, which wasn't too many places available at the time, and he found this piece of land. dungng thtimeme wn thererwere drough everywhe and thgs were bad idifferentowns an cities, lenswortthrived. it rived beuse theynew how

tmake it rive. strt with what u have. ke s somhingng wi i it annevever satisfied. that's a quation by orge wasngngton rver-- denise kadaa: bkerr t hunt: no. gegege wasngtoton carver. bucocolone allensworth made th h happe ere because thisasas our ths was ouhistory.his was o town. wdid it. d when i say "," i'mm speing g of blacks. kadar t tularlakeke ud to b b thearargest freshwatelakeke wesofof theissisisspi, and ckck inhe 1 189. and asararmingecamame morprprevant inhe arere the werer staed b bei divererd r r thatand d iteally y s had a signifant impa on the comnity. the community was thrining, b no o counityy thriris withouququalitwater.

this is at i havto do to geit. and e good thing is they've veven ushesese ps, soo it's magegeablforr uto getet the wat, , but'm le to o this. kidmamay nobe or the elrlrly manot,t, b thiss isouour stemem fr watete [sve dial icks] it's cining. elell riing]g]

[train isistle areses] hunt: : in t pasast,t wass a bustli l littltownwn, liki i said peoe e fromll a arod cameme he. . i ha thahat was chied way at. e downfa of this commuty was wer. and'm he right n 100-plu years later sll tryinto work thisoownsh, ththiscommununy, getting odod, afrdabable quality wate jessi ydyder: l ririgh so i'i'd ke to srt with e test wel reportummary.. e were finly able complet a testell recentlywhich wa theain poinof discuion at this rning's meetin and t test we did indate thawe c canxpect t get good coliliant ter r fr this s ot whe w we teed.. theacactual havave o wellll

th w wellsre o ok.hey're not very ghgh-procingng wls, bubu they thth havlevevelsf arsesec in them tt,t, in neraral, exceedshehe maxum c conminantnt vel thathehe sta s sets safe ininkingaterer. ere's a greateal ofcience o therdocumentg the il effects a arsen onn human heah.h. arsic i is definitely aanancer-usining agen it's verymportant that they have iluencen what t timate pject turns o to be bebecau it has b be sothining ththat ty' happypyith, that ththey're comrtabableith, tha they're coidident , anand at they n n affo to o ru jon chstensen:hehe hisry o of water inththe sajoaqaquivalley is rlllly thhistory watater incacalifoia an i in thamereric west.t. you know, ririculte dodoes ussomething lik880% o the water in califoiaia, anit made, y know,

a ultibilln-dollarndustry possible. itit's one e the g gat paradoxs of califnia a anof th c centr valalleand ofof the s joaquinalley, i particlar, thain the mst of soso mu richnes that's creed bwater--bgrowing ese vervaluab crops--ere are ople whoon' have clan drinkg g wate amdada mono: l lane is a sll town of about0000 fol, locateababout mininut don n 41 fm frfres. it's s majity y lano. a a t of folks he make tir livin

working surrounng field k. oh. is that, like, whe,e, ke, there's a cluerer of trail homeses ma yes. ye.. monaco: is it tre? oh, ok... they started setting upomes and settg g up tir h hom in a ayay thawas s noplanneneby local governmentararoundhem.m. then d at sompopoint,ocacal governmentidid bece awawarof the mmunity but did t incorporate tm into an officl l townr anan oiciall ci. as a rult, the w that lifornia has alt with sma communities li lanare that thehahave aystetem ere thcommunitititselfan s setp a community seicices dstriricto prode certa vital svices, like drking wat, to e residts. in the early 2000 the comnity serces district und thathey had water at was contaminated with arsenic.o o theyot a a gnt oom thfedederagovernme thatt s about $1.6 million consuctt an sesenic eatmtmenplant.t. [isab s solor speakingpapanish

so st o over re androp in the watetoto fil up th. becauswhwhen ty fifill this, i's re e easto droro ghght he. dreamthe ameran dream. [ctinues ispanish] that' b becau i move er here. [contueues inpaninish mona: : the mmununitwas rerely notnvnvolvein the pcessss

the nstrtrucon off thersrsenicreatatme plantnt so,eally, what theyawaw happeningasas a l off construconon wasoing on,nd then their bil s skyroeteded. ee arnicc teatmenenplant was instald d in 20, a abo midwawa though theear. andhen 6 months lar, i it s shut dn becau it was o costly to opetete. [solor speakinspanish] yoram hehen: t chahallge in all communities

hat they'rnonot ab to actual run the o own system y you kw, t thecan't afford, u u knowto h hav an operatoththat wld b be ere. this isne of oulaboratoes. and th is wherwe do o rious types of tests n n mobi uninits for water treaenent an desananationwateter ality analysis, anso on. and this primarily in prepararation rr alwayaylarger scale design of syems thatrere thefieleld deploblble. ts isis wer, nono champae.e. wel w we're l loong at t e nntrolinteterfe for r e plant that is ruing at poche.

chris nnnnemanwe''re inin the panocherarainagdistrict off of rusllll avee hehere lobabanos, at onef f the lot t trtmentt test sis s for eatiting subsurfacerarain terer. is paicular pject hous a oject f the unersity of calirnrnia, s ananges. and th'reestitingeveralal presesses volving revsese osmis. . ifou hadad sseriewherere an arar like this, in the ntntral lleyey, where u u haveotss o small mmmmunits ththatre sprprd out erer a lge a areand you could put amamall pnt l lik this, a pacgege pla--ththe'ss a potenti therforr co savvgs--it would potentlllly be gamame anger.r. cocohentherere an economeses ofcalele he. thehe momore stemems at yououave, the lower thcocost i youou c thinknk about a t thoseommumunies ass essentilyly bei a virtu water dtrtrict.ere e th are connectevivia inrnet and hereforeave thatenefit o

being pt of a district, even thou g geogrhicacallthey''re not connecte snyder: i tnknk it undsds very promingng. an in n fa, i think if sll commutities are gna h havto g go to treatmt,t, it's s goa have toe a model like tt.t. kaarara: rht n nowwe wanan m make re e whave e eugh waerer forhe p peoe to l le here d d for to o gr. anright no we e e at cacity beusee rr sysm isis oer, ananwe need to impveve tha [sororio sakining anish]h] narrar: accesto clean drinkingater in rura california is complicated, but in remote llllageshat t li ththin roccc's s outhwest mouaain rion,n, t opposose is

truehere, noradition solutions arbebeing bracacednd giving hoptoto comnitities in need [khadija ghouate eaking native lguguage] jamila rgach: he the porty s beentaggerin in termofof wat.

people were lviving i perpetually elessss aiety.. and manyf the won were telling usowow thewould d thirsty andive watefirst to theirhildren,o ththe derlrly, and tohehe anils.. [donkey ays] [grunting] [hazna tazrtete speingng native lauauage]

baacach: t wataterhortagagand e irregarity ofainfall ve made velihoodere very diffilt for t househos. [vehicle e hornonksks] [mhahamed bour speingg nativlanguage

[assa derh speaki frenc rgach: t impact climate change juswithin the 12 yess that w as an oanizatio ve been titive ithe e reon is allyly sggerining. therere has bebeen a signgnifict increase iththe heat andnd in te suers. theahara isight on thether sidof the mntain

an is movi towardshis regi very eadily. ounir abbar speining frch]] rrgachfog g tas awayayll youvisuals.hen it ces vey,y, verslowowly an g gracisly. i run isis orgizatatiothat dday h thehe lgest ncnctiong fofog llllecti projecin the wld.

barga: : the g gogoeshroughgh theetet, anthen themall molecus of water that are inside the f are caught in e honeycomomb sorof netng. anthen wi gravitythey desnd into a gutteranand th we gather them. [abbar speaking enench]

[derh speakinfrench]

[aarar speing g frch]

[indtitinct nvevertion]n] [hssssain ousane peakaki nate langua]]

[abar speang french]

[tazrou speakin native lauauage] [souse e speang native ngnguage

[derhempeaking frch]

announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by the orange county community foundation and the farvue foundation. @ 9ñçç??x'effó

-george:osostileeaththers othing new to bangladesh seasonal rains andropipicastormsms hit itsowow-lyi coaoast and d ood its many waterways anannual, but as tempetutures ririseorldwiwi, our weaerer is bbecing momo volatil and nowhere is ttt lt h harr thananangladesh, a countrbebeing tterered so f frcely by the effects c clima chahang at their existen i is undeder reat r rht now. bangladesh s s beenorceced to o ke extreme measures to survive its ttttle agaain climama change. but willt be enough?h?