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 prodtition ththe orld,d,any liveitithoutleanan dnkingg watewwhileat t thedge ofof moroc's ahara reon, rvesting water fm m fog s the potentiatoto deey imimpa a ctuture. [cama focus s ng clicking] [shutterlicking]

ereri huer: : th was the drugtotore-- the rust-lolored ildiding on the otr r sid of f itas theararber op.. the historofof allswororth i i knoit i is lonell allenorth--wh he retid from t army--wted a pce whe he coulgo and stle withis peop, hich wa't tomany plas ailable the tim and he fnd this ece of ld. duduri the e me when there we oughts erywhere d things were b in diffent townand cies, alleworth thved. t thrivebecause ey knew w

to maket thrivestart wh wht yoyou ve. mama sometetng wiwith iand d ner be satisfied. that's quotatiobyby george washingtocarver-- denise adadarabooooke t. huer: no. george whihingto carver.bubut conel allensworth madththat hpenn here because is was os.s. this waour histy. this s our tow we did . and wh i sa "we," 'mpeakakinof blacks. kaarara: tare e la used d be ee larst f frewater r ke west of t m missiippipi, d d backn t the890s. and as farmi b becam rre pralelentin theherea, th w watertartrtedeing d derted for th. . and reaeallhas haha a siificant pact on theommunity. the community s thriving,utut no mmununit thves without qualy water.

thiss what iave to d tget it. d the go thing i they'e e giveus t the pots,s,o it'manageabe e fors toto g theatater, t i'i'm ableleo do this.idids manot t be or thelelderlmay y no but t ts is our ysystemor r war. [stove dial clksks] it's s comg. [belriringin

[taiain whtle e bles] hunter: t the pt, i it s a bustling ltltle to, like i idid. people omom allrounund me here. hahate tt it washipped awaat. the wnfall othis mmunityas waterand i'm here rht now 1-plus yrs laer stillrying toork at ththis twnshshipthis mmunity, geining go, afaffoable,, qualitwawater. jessi snyd: : all ght.t. si' likto startith the st well port sumry... we re final able toomplete a testell recely, whicwas e main int of dcussion ts morni's meing. an the teswell didndicate that we c e expecto g getood complit t watefromom ts spotot where wtetested they acalally he twtwo lls.

the wlsls arek. t th'rereot rry hi-prorodung welel, but eey bo havave vels o oarsenic in emem tha in n geral, exeeeeds t maxaxim contatanant leveththat t s stateets as safe drinngng wat. ththe's a reat de of scice out there domenting e ill efctcts ofrsenenicn hum h healt arsrsen is definilyly a ccer-cacaing agent. it'very important that th he inflnce on at the ulmate project turnsut t to becse it has to be somethin that they're happyitith, tt they're comomrtable wh, that they're e nfident in, and that thehecan afford to ru jon chriensesen:he hisisry of ater r the san joaquivalley isis rlly ththhistory water incaliforn an in ththamerican west. you owow, agcultlturdoes use omomethg l lik80% o o t watatern calilirnia, and it isade, younow,

a mtibilliodollar iustry posslele. i's e ofof t greatataradoxes ofalififora and d the ctrtral vley y anof e san jquin valy, in rticula that inhe midstf somuch riness th's reated by war--by gring thes very vuable cps--therare peop who do't he clean drinking teter. amandaononaco:anare is smamall town ofbobout 6 fololks located abt t 30 muteses down f from esnono. it's ajajoritlatitinoa lot t foks here ke theiriving

woing in sroundingields. ok.k.h. is that, like, where, like, there's c clust ofrailereromes? man: y. yes... mmaco: is there? oh, ok... tty started settinup homes ansesettinup t the homesesn a wayhahat wanot t plned byby local govemements oundnd tm. tn and at some pot,t, lol govement didececome are e of the community but did no corporate them toto anfffficiatownwn oan offffial city. a resul the wayhat lifornihas dealwith sma communits like lare is that ththey ve a a stem whwhe the community itlflf canet u up a communy y serves d dirict t t provideertain val servis, lie drinki water, theesidentsin the ely 2000 the comnity serces districfound th they ha ter that was contaminatewiwith arninic. stheyey g a grant froththe feral govementnt tt wass aut $1.1.million to nsnstruc an arsec c treaent t plt. ssabelolororio speaking spashsh]

stayver here and drop in thwawater filill this. cacause en t thefill th, , it's s mo easy y drop righhehere. eam, thamericanream... [conties in spish] th' because move ov here.e. cocontins inin snish]] monaco: e e commity y wareallyly nonot iolved inhe p pross

of e e consuctitionf the arsicic trementnt pnt. so, really, whaththey s hapnining w a l lotf constructionas goingn,n, and then the b billskyrorocked. therrseni trreaent plplt was installed 2 2010,boutut mway throughhe year.nd then monthlalater,t was sh d down cause iwas too costly to operate [solor speakinspanish] yoram cohe t the cllenenge small communities is

thathey're not le to actuly run tir own systems. you know, ty y can'tt afford, you owow, toavee an orarator at w wou be ththe. ths is onef our laratories d this iwhere e do various types of tststs omobibilenits for water treatmenanand salination, watequality analys, and so on. andhihis is primarily in n preparioion fo ways larger scale desigofof systemththat a thehen eld deployabl t this wataternot champagne. well, 'reookikingt thee conolol inrfacace r the e ant thats runninat panoc..

chris linnanan: w'rein the pocoche dinagage strictct off r russe avevenuhere,, los bas,s, at one of e e pilotreaeatmt test sites r r treang subsfaface din n waer. thth particar proje houses a projt for te univerty ofcacalifoia, , loangeles. and they'rere tesng s seval process s invoingg reversesmsmosisif y youad a sieies whe inin aarea l le this, iththe ceral l vaey, erere yohaveve ls of sll commitities at a arepreadd out over l largerea and u couldutut a sll p pla like this, p packa plalantthere'e's a potenal therfor costsavings-it woul poteially be game chger. coenen: the isis an ononomi ofof sle herer the moe e systs ththatou havav the lor r the st i is.ou cananhink abutut allhosese cmunititi as esenential beieing virtutu water distrt.t. hertheyey a connected viinternetndnd thefore havthat benit of

beng part of a district, enn though ggrgraphilly y th'e not coecected. snyde i i thi it t sods veryroromisi. anand,n factct i thinif smallomommunies are gonnaavave too to eaeatmen it't's gonna have to be a model keke tha kadar r rightow, , weant to me e surwe e ha enougug wateroror theeoplple livee rre anfor r uso growow and right now, we are capacitbebecaus ourysystem oldlderand weweeed i impro thahat. [solor s speakg spspanh] rrator:ccess tolean inking wer in rul californ is comicated, bu in rotote viageses tt liee with moroco''s sououhwest mounta r regio thehe oosite e

true. he, nontrational solutis s are ing g emaced a a givi h hope comommuties ineed. [khadija ghate speaining native langue]e] jaila bargh: here e povert haseen staering in terms ofatater.

people wee ling i in perpetual e endless anxnxie. anmany of e women re tellg g us h they y uld gogo thirs and givwater fit to eirir cldren,n,o the e derly, and to theninimals [dkey bray [grunnng] [hazntatazrou spepeakng nate e langge]]

bargac t the wer s shoage anan therregulary of raiall have made veveliho here ve difficu f for t househos. [vevecle hornrn hon] [mohad zabourpepeakin naive langge]

[aissderhem saking ench] bargh: the iact of cmate chan just within the2 2 year at we, aan organation, ha beeeen tive i ithe region is rely stataggering. there h has been n a signifiint increase in the heheat and in te summer the saha is rig on the oth side ofhe mountn

and imoving tards thi region vry stealy. [mounir abbar speakinfrfrench] barchch: fotakekes ay allll your vials.s. tn itit ces very,erery slly and gcicious. i run thisrgrganizion n th tod h has t lararge funcononing g collection oject inhe world

bargach: e e fog es t thrgh the netanand th the sma lecules of water that ar insidehe f fog arare caug in the hohoneycb sort onettin and tn with grvity, th descendnto a tttter, d thenen we gather emem. [abbar speining frch]]

derhem saking french]

[abbar speaking enench]

[indistit t conrsasatin] [houssn sousae e speingng tive language]

[abar speang french]

[tzrzroutepeakakin nate e langge]] oousanspeaeaki naivive lauagege]

[rhem speing fren]

announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by the orange county community foundation and the farvue foundation.

09/23/19 09/23/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> for twice as long as i have been alive on this planet, we have known about the crisis. for just as long, the wealthy and the powerful have profited off of pollution, have lied to him of people about the science withhave choked democracy their dollars instill in our future. amy: as many as formerly people around the