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 thedge rocco's saha regin, harvting wat from fohas the pontial toeeply imct a cultu. amera fos ring cckin hutterlicking]

sherhunter: at was the dr store theust-colod buildi. 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, wch wasn't too ny places avlable athe time, d he fou this pie of lan ring thtime whethere we 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 carver.but colol allenorth madthat happen he because this was os. 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 freshter lake wt of theississip, anback inhe 189. and as fming bece moe prevalentin the aa, theater startedeing divted for at. and really s had significt impact on theommunitythe commity was hriving,ut no counity thris witht qualitwater.

th is what have too to t it. anthe go thing i ey'e given us theseots, so it's managele fors to get the wat, but'm ab to do ts. ks may nobe or thelderly y not, b this isour sysem for ter. [stoveial clks] it's comin ell ringg]

[train whistlblares] hunterin the pt, it wa a bustng littltown, ke i sa. people om all aund came here. i ha that itas chipp away atthe downll of th communi was wat. and i'm re rightow 100-ps year ter sti trying to worat this toship, th communy, getting od, affoable, quity wate jessi sner: all ght. so'd ke to srt with the st wel repo summary. we wereinally ae to comete a te wl rently, whh was th main pot of disssn at 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 healt arsenics definily a canr-causin ent. 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 is reallthe history water incaliforn and ithe ameran west. yoknow, agculture es 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 ean driing wate anda mono: lanaris a sma town about 6 folks, loted abou30 minut down from frno. it'majoritlatino. lot of

foks here ke theiriving working surrounng fies. o oh. is at, likewhere, like, tre' a clust trail homes? ma yes. s... monac is it there? , ok... thestarted tting upomes and settg up 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 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 with senic. sthey got grant from thfederal vernmenthat was aut $1.6 llion constrt anarsenitreaent plan 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] monacothe commity was ally not iolved inhe proce

thersenic tatment plant. so reall what they saw happeni was a l of constrtion wasoing on, and then the bills 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 [solor speakinanish] yoram con: the cllenge in all commities 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. this one of r laboraries. and th is where do varis tys of tes on mole units 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 lking at e cotrol inrface for thplant that is nning atanoche.

chris lieman: w're he panoc drainagdistrict off of rsell avee here, los bas, atne of thpilot trtment test sites fotreating bsurfacerain waer. this partular proct house a prect forhe univsity ofcalifoia, los geles. and th're tting seral presses volving revse osmos. if youad a sers where an areaike thi in thcentravalley whe you ha lots o small communits that a sead ouover a lge area d you could put amall pla like his, a pkage pla--there's a poential ere for costsavings-it woul poteially a game anger. coen: theris an econies of sca here. t more syems thatou have,he wer the st is. y can think abut allhose comnities a esentiallyeing a vtu ater disict. herthey are coected a inteet and trefore he that befit of

beingart of aistrict,ven thou geograpcally th'r noconnecte nyder: ihink it unds very prosing. d, in fa, think ifmall comnities are gon have too treatmt, it's gonna ve be a mol like tt. kaara: rig now, weant toake surwe ha enough wateror the pple to le here anfor us tgrow. and ght no we e at capity becae our sysm is old, and weeed to irove tha [sorio speing spanh] narator: aess to can drinng watern rural caiforniais complated, bu in remotvillageshat lie with moroc's outhwes mounta region,he oppose is

true. re, nontditional solutis are beg embrac and giving hope toommunies in ed. [khadijghouate eaking nativeanguage] jamila rgach: he the poverty s beentaggerin n terms water.

peop were lving in rpetual endss anxie. d many of e women re telling how thewould go trsty andive watefirst the childre to the derly, and tohe anima. [donkey bray [gruntig] hazna taoute speing nativlanguage

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

[assa derhempeakingfrench] 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 suers. theahara is rht on 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 futioning g collecon project the wor.

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

[rhem speing fren]

[abb speaking french

[indistit convesation] [houssn soune saking nate langua]

[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, an 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]