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 comunity w water. d i' here rig now 100lus yeas lat still ting to wk at isis toshipip, is cocounity, gettg g goodaffofordle, quality teter. jei i snyd: alall ght. s si'd like start wh the te well rert summa... we we finallyble to cplete a test wl recent, which s th main pot of disssion at thimorning's meetg. andhe test ll did iicate that we canxpxpect getet gd complianwawater om t thispot where we ststed. eey acallyly he two o lls.

ththe wls a arek. theh're not vey y highroduduci wellslsbut thy y bothave e lels of f senic in th t that,n gegenel, excdsds theaximimumontamimint level atat thetatate ss as se e drinng w wat. there's a gat dealf scien out ere docunting thill effes s of aenicic o humaneaealth.rsenenics definite a a canr-caususg ent. t's ry important that they have nfluencen what t ultimateroject tur out to be beause it s s to bsomemethg thathehey're h hap with,h,hat they're comfortableith, tha the're confideninin, anthatat they can afrdrd to n. jochristenn:n: theistotoryf wateinin thsan n jouin vall is really e e histy of wat in calirnia and in e e ameran w wes you kn, , agrilturure es use somethingikike 8 off the werer in lifoforn, and d is mad you kno

a multillion-doar indusy possib.. it's s onof t thereat p padoxes of cifororniand ofof ththe ctralal vley ananof th san joain valle in paicular,hat in t midst o so ch richss tha's cated by wate-by growg these ery valable cro--there e peopleho don't hav clean dnknking ter.r. amamandaonacaco:anare is smallll town of autut 600olksks, located abou3030 mines down 41rorom frno.. it's morority tinono. lot ofof fol here ma their ling

workg in surunding flds. ok. oh. is that, likewhwhere, like, there's aluluster of tiler h hes? man: yesyes... monono: is ithere? oh, ok... thehestarted setting homes and tttting theheiromes i i a way tt t was t plpland by local governntnts arnd t the tn and atomome pot, l lol governnt did bomome awe ofof e community but did not inorporate them in an oicicial wn o or officicl city. as result,he way tt caifornia s dealt th small mmunitielike lane is that eey ha a s sysm wherer e community itse c can s upp a communitseservic diistct too ovide ctain vit service likdrinkingater, to the ridents. the ear 2000s,he commuty servis strict und thathey had war that was contaminated thth arsec.c. so ey g got grant from e e fedel governnt t tha was a aut $1.6 million to cotrtruct arsec trtreaent plplt. [iababel sorioio speangng spash]]

soststay or here and drop in the teter toilll upthis. beususe wh thehey ll thisitit's momoreasy totorop right rere. dram, the erican dam... [continu in spanh] tha'secause iove overere. [ntntinuein s spash] monaco: thcocommuny wawas ally 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 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 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]

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

[abar speang french]

[tzroute sakaking 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.

manan: ladidies and gentlemen, please welcome "b"bioneers" assssociate producer j.p. haharpignies. [applause] harpigngnies: welcome, fellowow creatures. um, soso i have the great privilege of servining-- ahem--on a team that reviews hundreds of projects from around the world. very inspiring project, in a way, very similar to what you've just seen, for the buckminster fuller chahallenge, whwhich is an annul prize that has been called, um, sia