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 isis wasurs. 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'ccomin [bell ngnging]

[trn n whise blblar] hunter: inhehe pas it t wa a buliling ltle e to, kke i id.. people fr a all aund d ca here. i tete thait was cpped away . the dofall of is communityas 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] tha'secause iove overere.e. [continueinin spash]] 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 in small communieies 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 atapacity because 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 endle 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 a in the 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]

[abbarpepeakinfrenench

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

[abar speang french]

[tzroute sakaking nate e langge]] oousanspeaeaki naivive lauagege]

[rhem speakg french

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

12/16/19 12/16/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! clclose there are e millions of world who aroround the are already suffering from thehe impacts of climate chahange. denying this fact could d be intetereted by some to be aa crime against humanity. thank you. climateted nations summit in madrid, spain,