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 prodtion inthe word, many ve witho clean dnking ter whi at tdge mocco's saha regin, harvting wat from fohas the pontial toeeply imct a cultu. amera fos ring ccking] hutter clicking]

sherhunter: at was the dr store-- the rt-colorebuilding on the her sid of it w th barber op. the histy of allsworth as know its colone alensworthwhen he tired fr the arm-wanted place whe he coulgo and stle wh his pele, which wn't o many pces ailable the tim and found ts piece land. dung the me when ere were droughtsverywherand thin were badn differt towns an cities, lenswortthrived. ithrived cause th knew ho

o make ithrive. art wit whayou havemake somhing th it annever beatisfied tht's quotatioby george whingtocarver-- denise adara: ooker t huer: nogeorge whington carve but conel allenorth me that happe he because this wasurs. this waour histy. this s our tow we did . and wh i sa "we," 'm saking of blacks kadara:ulare la used toe the larstreshwar lake west the misssippi, and ba in the 1890s anas farmi became moe prevalentin the aa, the wat srted bei diverte r that. d it reay has ha a signifant impact on theommunitythe commity was hriving,ut no counity thris witht qualitwater.

th is what iave to d to geit. and e go thing i th'vgiven theseots, so it'manageabe for uto get e waterbut i'm ab to do ts. kidmay not or the derly manot, buthis is r syst for war. [stoveial clks] it's comin ell ringg]

[train whistlblares] hunterin the pt, it wa a buling lite town, ke i sa. eople fr all arod came herei hatehat it w chipped ay at. thdownfallf this mmunityas waterand i'm here rig now 1-plus yrs ter sti trying to worat is townip, thiscommunit getting od, affoable, qualitwater. jessi sner: all ght. so'd ke to srt with the st wel reportummary.. we wereinally ae to comete a testell recely, whicwas th main pot of disssn at this rning's meetin and theest wellid indice that can expt to getood coliant war from ts spot wheree tested

theactuallyave two lls. 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 great dal of sence out there cumentinthe ill effects arsenicn hum health.rsenics definite a cancecausing agent. it's very important that they have influence on what the ultimate project turns out to be because it has to be something at they're hap with, tt ey' comfoable wit that they're coident inand that they n affordo run. jon chriensen:he hisry of ater inthe san aquin vaey iseally histy of wat in liforn and in e americ west.cu you kn, agricuure does e someing lik80% of t water icaliforn, and it is mad you kno

a multillion-doar indusy possle. it's one the gre paradox of cifornia d of e centr valley d of the sanoaquin vley, in particur, that the mid of so mu richnes that's created bwater--bgrowing ese ery valable cro--there e pele who d'tave clan driing wate anda mono: lanaris a sma town about 6 folks, cated abt 30 mines down from frno. it's majory latinoa lot of

foks here ke theiriving working surrounng fies. ok.h. is th, like, ere, like, tre' a clust ofraileromes? man:es. ye.. monaco:s ithere? ohok... they arted seing up hes ansettinup theiromes in a ay that s not plned by local vernmentaround tm. then anat sompoint, lcal govement d become are of thcommuny but dinot incporate tm into officiatown or officl city. a resul the wayhat caifora has det with sll mmunitielike lane is tha they ve a sysm where thcommunititself c set up a counity seices dirict to provide certainital serces, ke drinng waterto th residen. in thearly 2000 the comnity serces ditrict fod that they had water that was contaminated th senic. sthey got grant from thfederal vernmenthat was aut $1.6 llion to consuct an arsenic eatmenplant. sabel sorio spking spash]

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

the cotructionf the aenic trement pnt. so reall what they saw appeningas a lotf construcon wasoing on,nd en theirills skyrocketed. the arnic trtment plt was inalled in010, abo midway thrgh the yr. and tn 6 months ter, it s shut dn becauset was tocostly t operate [solorio speaking spanish] yom cohen:he challge in smalcommunits is

that ey'e not ab toactuallyun theirwn systs. you kw, they n't afrd, you ow, to he an orator th would bthere. thiis one oour labotories. and is is wherwe do vaous types tests n mobilenits for ter treaent and desanation, ter quality analys, and son. and ts is primari in prepation fo alays larg scale dign of syems thatre then eld eployabl this isater, no ampagne. wel, we're loong at th conol inteace for thplant that is nning atanoche.

chris lieman: w're he panoc drainagdistrict off of rsell avee here, los banos, at o of the lot treaent tt sis for treating subsurfa drain ter. th partular proct house a prect forhe univsity of calirnia, loangeles. and th're tting seval presses volving rever osmosisif youad a eriewhere inn area le thi in the ntral lley, where u have ls of sll communits that a sprd out er a lar area anyou uld put a sll plantike ts, a pacge plantthere's a poential ere for costsavings-it woul potentlly be game changer. coen: theris n economes of sca here. t more syems thatou have,he wer the st is. y can think abut allhose comnities a esstially bng a virtu ater disict. herthey are coected a inteet and trefore he that befit of

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 treatmt, it's gonna ve be a mol like tt. dara: rht now, want toake surwe havenough water f the peoe to liv here d for uso grow. and ght no we e at capity becae our sysm is old, and weeed to irove tha [sorio speing spanh] nartor: accs to cle drinkingater in ral califoia is cplicatedbut remote llages tt lie thin mocco's soutest mntain rion, thepposite

true. re, nontditional solutis are beg embrac and givi hope commuties in need [khadijghouate eaking nativeanguage] mila baach: herthe poverty s beentaggerin n terms water.

peopleere ling in rpetual endss anxie. d ma of the men were telling how thewould go trsty andive watefirst the childre to the derly, and tohe anima. [dony brays] [gruntig] hazna taoute speing nativlanguage

baach: theater shortage an th irregulity of rnfall have me liveliod here ry difficu for theousehold vehicle horn hks] [mhamed zaur speakg nate langua]

[aissdeem speakng frenh] baach: thempact oflimate chan just wiin the 1years at we, aan organation, ha been acve in the regi is rely stagging. there habeen a signifcant inease in e heat a in the summers.he sahara right o the oer side the mouain

ands movingowards ts regionery stdily. [moun abbar saking french] barga: fog tas awayll yr visual then itomes ry, verslowly andracious. i run is organation th tod has theargest nctioninfog colltion project the wor.

barch: the fog goeshrough t net, anthen themall moleculeof waterhat are indehe fog arcaught ithe honeomb sort f nting. d then th avity, ey desce into gutter, d then we gathethem. [abb speakinfrench]

[deem speakg french

[abb speakg french

[indistit convesation] [houssn soune saking nate langua]

[abbaspeakingrench]

azrou speakin nive langge] ousane eaking tive lauage]

[rhempeaking ench] es

announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by the orange county community foundation and the farvue foundation. ?o?o?ñ?ñ?ñ?ñ?ñ?o?o?og n

national priorities. [applause] narrat: cuba is an achronism. ancient vehicles, crumbling infrastructure, and limited opportunities. but despit60 years of economic sations byhe unitestates, the socialist country survives. there's free education and a free world-class medical system. in 1958, fidel castro overthrew the military junto ruling cuba. newscaster: havana. january 1, 1959. [woman singing in spanish]