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 pruction the wld, man ve witho clean dnking ter whi at thedge of rocco's saha regin, harvting wat from fohas the tential deeply pact a cultu. [camera cus ringlicking] [shutter clicking]

sherhunter: at was the ug store the rt-colorebuilding on thother se of itas e barbeshop. the hiory of aensworth as inow it icolonel lenswor--when hretired om the ay--wantea plac whe he coulgo and stle withis peop, which wasn't too many places available at the time, and he found this piece of land. duri the ti when ere we drough everywhe and thgs were badn differt towns an cities, lenswortthrived. t thrivebecause ey knew w

to maket thrivestart wh wht you ha. make sething th it annever beatisfied at'a quotatn by georgeashingtocarver-- deniskadarabooker. hunter: nogeorge whington carver.but colonel allenorth madthat happen herbeuse th was os. is was r histor this wa o tow we did . and wh i sa "we," 'm saking of blacks kadar tulare ke used be the larstreshwar lake wesof the msissippi and ck in t 1890s. anas farmi became re prevalentin the aa, th water start being derted for at. and really s had a gnifict impa on the comnity. thcommunitwas thring, buto communy thris witht qualitwater.

this is at have too to geit. and e good thi is th'vgiven these ps, so 's nageablfor us get e waterbut i'm able tdo ts. kids y not be r the elrly may t, but ts is r syst for war. [stoveial clks] it's comg. ell ringg]

rain whistle ares] hunterin the pt, it wa a bustng littltown, like i id. eople fr all arod came he. i hatehat it w chipped way at. e wnfall othis commuty was wer. and'm here rht now00-plusears ter sti trying work at thisownshipthis counity, getting od, affoable, qualitwater. jessi sner: all ght. so'd ke to srt with the st wel reportummary.. we we finallyble to cplete a te well rently, whh was e main int of dcussion at his morng's eting. an the teswell didndicate hat we c expect get goo complit water om this ot here we sted.

they acally havtwo well theells arek. they're not very hi-produci wells, t they bo have lels of arnic ithem tha in genel, exceedshe maxim contamint level at the ste sets safe drking wat. there's a greateal ofcience o therdocumentg the il effects arsenicn han healt arsenics definite a cancecausing agt. it's very iorta that th have iluence owhat the ultite proje turns o to be because it s to be mething that ty'reappy wit that they're comfortableith, that ey'e confidt in, anthat ty can afrd to ru jon chriensen:he hisry of ater inthe san aquin vaey is reay the hiory ofater in liforn d in thamericanest. you knowagriculte does e something le 80% o t water icaliforn, and it is me, you kw,

a mulbillion-llar indtry possle. i's onof the gat parades ofaliforniand of e centr valley d of the s joaquinalley, i particlar, thain the mst of so ch richss that's creat by ter--by owing the very vuable cps--therare pele who d'tave ean dnking war. anda mono: lanaris a sma town ofbout 600olks, loted abt 30 mines dow41 from esno. it's majory latinoa lot of

foks here ke theiriving working surrounng field o oh. is at, likewhere, like, tre' a clust of tiler hom? man: yes. ye.. monac is it tre? oh, ... they arted seing up hes and setting upheir hes in a ay that s not plned by local vernmentaround tm. then anat sompoint, lcal gornment d become are of thcommuny but dinot inorporatehem into officiatown or an officl city. a resul the wayhat califora has det with sll mmunitielike lane is tha they ve a sysm where thcommunititself c set up a counity seices dirict to provi certa vital svices, like drking wat, to e residts. in the early 20s, the cmunity svices ditrict fod that ty had war that w contaminatewith senic. sthey got grant from thfederal vernmenthat was aut $1.6 llion toconstruc anarsec treaent plt. [isabelolorio eaking snish]

so stayver he d drop ithe wateto fill up th. becauswhen thefill this, i's mo easy torop right re. dreamthe ameran dream. [ctinues ispanish] th'secause iove ov here. [contues in snish] naco: thcommunitwas rely not invved in t process

of the nstructi of the aenic trement pla. so reall what they s appeningas a lotf construcon wasoing on,nd en theirills skyroeted. the asenic teatment ant was inalled in010, abo midway throu the yea and tn 6 months ter, it s shut dn becau it was o costlyo orate [solio speakg anish] ram cohe the chaenge in sml communies is

thathey'rnot able to actuly run tir own system you kno they c't ford, yoknow, toave anperator at woulde there. ths is onef our laratories and is is where do varis tys of tes on mole units for war treatmt and desanation, ter qualy analys, and son. and ts is imarilyn preparion for alws largercale desn of systemthat arehen fiel deployae. this water, t champagn well, we're loong at th cotrol inrface for the plant that is nning atanoche.

chris lieman: w're t panocherainage strict off of rsell avee here, los bano at one of e pilot eatment test sites for eating bsurfacerain waer. th paicular pject hous a oject f the unersity califoia, los geles. and th're tting seral presses volving revse osmos. if y had a eriewhere inn area le thi in the ntral vaey, where yohave lot of sma communits that a sprea out over large aa and yo cold put amall pla like ts, a pacge plantthere's a tentialthere fo co savin--it wod potentially be game chger. coh: there aeconomi of scale he. the moe systemthat youave, the lower e cost i you canhi out allhose comnities a esstially bng a virtu wer distrt. here ey are nnected a inteet and hereforeave thatenefit o

beingart of aistrict,ven thou geograpcally th'r noconnecte snyr: i thi it soun ve promisingand, in ct, i thk if sma commuties are gon have too to treaent, it's gonnhave be a del likehat. kada: rightow, we wt toake surwe havenough wat for theeople toive herand for to grow and ght no we e at capity becae our stem is oer, and need tomprove tt. [sorio speing spanh] narrar: accesto clean drinki water irural califoia is cplicatedbut inemote llages tt lie thin mocco's soutest mouain regn, the oosite is

truehere, noradition soluons are ing embred and giving hope communies n need. [khada ghouatspeakin nativeanguage] jamila rgach: he the povert has bee staggerg n terms water.

peopleere ling in perpetuly eless anxty. and ma of the men were tellinus how ty would trsty andive war first thir childn, to thelderly, and tohe anima. [dony brays] [gruntig] hazna taoute speing nativlanguage

baach: theater shoage an e irregarity ofainfall haveade livehood hervery diffilt for t househos. [vehicle hornonks] ohamed bour speing nate langua]

issa derhem speakng frenh] rgach: t impact climate chge just thin the2 years that we,s an orgization, ha been acve in e region is rely stagging. there hs been a signifcant increa in the at and ithe mmers. t sahara isight on thether sidof the mntain

an is movi towardshis regi very eadily. [moun abbar saking french] barga: fog kes awayll yr visual then comes very, vy slowly andracious. i ruthis orgization at toay has t largest nctioninfog colltion projecin the wld.

barga: the g goes tough the n, and th the sll molecus of wat that ar inde t fog arcaught ithe honeomb sorof netng. anthen wi gravitythey desnd into gutter, d then we gathethem. [abb speakinfrench]

[deem speakg french

[aar speakg french

[indisnct conrsatio [houain soune saking nate langua]

[abr speaki french]

azrou speakin nive langge] [sousanspeaking naive langge]

derhem saking frch]

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

amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this moment in our union is not about left, right or centrist. it should not be about republicans and democrats. even what we saw happened the capital two weeks ago is the result of a long history of politics of division, that were cynically nad