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 poial toeeply imct a cultu. amera fos ring ccking] hutterlicking]

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 wasn't too many places available at the time, and he found this piece of land. dung the me when ere were droughtsverywherand thin were badn differt towns an cies, alleworth thved. it thrid becausthey knehow

o make ithrive. art wit whayou havemake somhing th it annever beatisfied tht's quotatioby george whingtocarver-- denise adara: ooker t huer: nogeorge whington carver.but colol allenorth madthat happen ere beuse th wasurs. this waour histy. this s our tow we did . and wh i sa "we," 'm saking of blacks kadar tulare ke used be the larstreshwar lake west the misssippi, and ck in t 1890s. anas farmi became re 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 ey'e given theseots, so it'manageabe for uto get e waterbut'm ab to do ts. kidmay not or the derly manot, buthis is r syst for war. [stoveial clks] it's comin ell ringg]

rain whistle ares] hunterin the pt, it wa a buling lite town, like i id. eople fr all arod came he. i hatehat it w chipped ay at. thdownfallf this mmunityas waterand i'm re rightow 100-ps year ter sti trying to work is toship, th communy, getting od, affoable, qualitwater. jessi sner: all ght. so'd ke to srt with the st wel repo summary. we wereinally ae to comete a te well rently, whh was 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 valley iseally thhisty of wat in liforn and in e americ west. you kn, agricuure does e someing lik80% of t water icaliforn, and it is mad you kno

a multillion-doar indusy possle. i's onof the gat parades ofaliforniand of e centr valley d of the sanoaquin vley, in particur, that the mid of so mu richnes that's created y water-y growinthese ery valable cro--there e pele who d'tave clan drinkg water. anda mono: lanaris a sma town about 6 folks, loted abou30 minut down from frno. it's majory latinoa lot of

lks hermake the living workinin surroding fies. ok.h. is that, likewhere, like, tre' a clust trail homes? man:es. ye.. monaco:s it tre? oh, ... 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 the ely 00s, theommunityervices strict und thathey had water at was ctaminated wi senic. sthey got grant from thfederal vernmenthat was aut $1.6 llion constrt an arsenic eatmenplant. sabel sorio spking spash]

stayver he d drop ithe wateto fill up th. becauswhen thefill this, i's mo easy torop rit here. 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 appeni was a l of construcon wasoing on,nd their bls skyroeted. 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 speakinanish] yom cohen:he challge in sml communies is

that th'e not ab to tually r their o system you kno they c't afrd, you ow, to he an orator th would bthere. ths is onef our laratories and is is wherwe do vaous types ofests omobile uts for war treatmt and desalition, war qualy analysisand so o and thiis imarilyn preparion for alwaylarger sle desigof systemthat arehen fiel deployabl this isater, no ampagne. wel, we're loong at th conol inteace r the ant that is nning atanoche.

chris lieman: w're he panoc drainagdistrict off of rsell avee here, los bas, at o of the lot treaent est sis for trting subsurfa drain ter. th partular proct house a prect forhe univsity of calirnia, loangeles. and th're tting seral presses volving revse osmos. if y had 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 chger. coen: theris n economes of sca here. t more syemthatou have,he lor the co is. youan think abut all tse commuties as esstially bng a virtu ater disict. herthey are coected a inteet and trefore he th 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 gi hope communities in need [khadijghouate eaking nativeanguage] mila baach: herthe poverty s beentaggerin n terms water.

peopleere ling in rpetual endss anxie. d many of thwomen we telling how thewould go trsty andive watefirst th childre to the derly, and tohe anima. [dony brays] [grunng] hazna taoute speing nativlanguage

baach: theater shoage and th irregulity of rnfall have me liveliod here ry difficu for theousehold vehicle hornonks] [mhamed zaur speakg naive langge]

[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 signifint 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 very, vy slowly andracious. i run is organation th tod has theargest futioning g collecon project the wor.

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

[rhem speing fren]

[aar speakg french

[indistit convesation] [houssn soune saking nate langua] uu

[abbaspeakingrench]

azrou speakin nive langge] ousane eaking naive langge]

[rhempeaking ench]

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?o■ 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]