narrator: on this episode of "earth focus," the most basic human need is also its most precioucommodity. 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 pontial 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 inow it icolonel 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 cities, nsworth rived. it thrid becausthey knehow

to ma it thri. startith at you ve. makeomething with iand nevebe satised. that's a quotion by geor washiton carv-- denie kadar: booke t. hunterno. geor washingn carr. but lonel aensworthade thatappen he because this 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 lgest freshwar lake wesof the msissippi and ba in the890s. 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 these ps, 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]

[train whistlblares] hunterin the pt, it wa a bustng littltown, ke i sa. 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 worat this toship, th communy, getting od, affoable, qualitwater. jessi sner: all ght. so'd ke to srt with the st wel reportummary.. we wereinally ae to comete a te well rently, whh was this rning's meetin and theest wellid indice hat we c expect get goo complit water om this ot here we sted.

ey actuly have o wells. 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'very imptant that ey ave infuence owhat the ulmate proct turnsut to be becse it hato be mething that ty'reappy wit that they're comrtableith, tha th'rconfidenin, and at ty can afrd to ru jon chriensen:he hisry of ater inthe san aquin valley iseally thhisty of wat in liforn liand ithe ameran 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 califora and 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 clean dnking war. anda mono: lanaris a sma town about 6 folks, located abt 30 mines down from frno. it's majory latinoa lot of

lks hermake the living workinin surroding fies. ok.h. is th, like, ere, like, tre' a clust traileromes? man:es. yes... monaco:s it tre? oh, ... they arted seing up hes ansettinup the homes i 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 communits like lare is tt 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 righhere. dreamthe ameran dream. [ctinues ispanish] th'secause iove ov here. [contues in snish] monaco: e communy was rely not iolved inhe proce

of the nstructi of the aenic trement plant. so reall what they saw appeningas a lotf construcon wasoing on,nd en theirills 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 orate [soriopeaking spish] ram cohe the chaenge in sml communies is

that ey'e not ab to tually r their o systs. you kw, they n't afrd, you ow, to he an orator th would bthere. ths is onef our laratories and is is where do varis 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. well, we're loong at th conol inteace for thplant that is nning atanoche.

chris lieman: w're t panocherainage strict off of rsell avee here, los bas, at o of the lot treaent est sis for treating subsurfa drain ter. th partular proct house a prect forhe univsity califoia, los geles. and th're tting seral presses volving revse osmos. if y had a eriewhere inn area le thi in the ntral lley, wheryou haveots ofmall 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 scaleere. 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 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 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 drking wat in rura calornia compliced, but remote llages tt lie thin mocco's soutest mouain rion, thepposite

true. re, nontditional solutis are beg embrac and givi hopto communities 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. [dkey bray [grunng] [zna tazrte speakng nativlanguage

baach: theater shoage and th irregulity of rnfall have me liveliod here ry difficu for theousehold vehicle hornonks] ohamed bour speing nate langua]

[aia deem speakng frenh] baach: thempact oflimate chan just wiin the 1years at we, aan organation, ha been acve in e region 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 very, vy slowly andracious. i run is organation th tod has theargest futioning g collecon project the wor.

barga: 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]

[abbaspeakingrench]

azrou speakin nive langge] ousane eaking naive langge]

[rhempeaking en]

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] narror: 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]