(14 Sep 2015) LEAD IN:
California is struggling through a fourth year of drought and the wells in many of the small towns have started to dry up.
While farmers can still water their crops, the farm workers don't have enough water to take showers or flush their toilets.
STORY-LINE:
Water shortages are a daily occurrence for many people living in California's Central Valley.
The well that feeds the home of disabled Army veteran Tino Lozano dried up almost a year ago.
For him and many others in the region, filling buckets from a hose has become routine.
"At this time of day, people are cooking, washing, showering. The water goes way down," says 40-year-old Tino.
"We have 6 people that run off these lines."
He pays $50 USD a month to join five other homes sharing a makeshift water system which taps into a well half a mile away.
"My wife called me about 3 hours ago and we ran out of water completely, we get our water from our neighbour," says landlord and neighbour, Gilbert Arredondo.
But it's one of many improvised solutions that allow families to wash, cook, drink and flush a toilet.
"Get another one, have it ready for the next round. That's how we do it here," says Lozano.
In the tiny town of Okieville, most people can't afford to dig their private wells deeper to reach the receding groundwater.
Farming in Tulare County brought in $8.1 billion USD in 2014 - more than any other county in the United States, according to its agricultural commissioner.
But across the county, around 1,300 wells have now run dry - more than in the rest of the state combined.
"I think it's hitting us the worst – the low-income people, the farm workers. Smaller towns, smaller communities," says diesel mechanic, Leo Arreguin.
"The cities don't have this problem or the farmers don't have this problem. They have the cash to drill deeper," he says.
Agriculture is the main industry here and despite the drought, big farms are still going strong.
"They drill deeper, our wells go drier first because ours are smaller water wells," says Arreguin.
Just across the street, a new pistachio orchard is going in. Down the road, dairy cows cool off under sprinklers.
"They use quite a bit of water to irrigate their corn and their hay," says 30-year-old Arredondo.
"But that's what feeds the cows and that's what gives everybody their jobs too, it trickles down the line."
But the people who do those jobs, like Francisco Zuniga, can't shower off after work.
That's because their borrowed well water has been sitting in the sun all day, rising to scalding temperatures.
"I'm sad because I like to be keeping busy, keeping the house looking nice," says farm worker, Jose Vazquez.
He stopped tending his backyard garden because there's no water for his onions and tomatoes.
There is some help for those who can't afford to dig deeper wells.
The State is providing water tanks as part of its disaster relief programme.
Thanks to makeshift plumbing, pumps, and tanks, Maria Marquez can give her granddaughters a bath.
As a homeowner, she was eligible to get a large water tank installed outside for washing and flushing.
It's filled every Monday by a county truck, there's also bottled water for drinking and cooking.
It's paid for through California's $3.7 billion USD drought relief programme - which includes $38 million USD for drinking water and tanks.
"Everyone's worried about this, that's all. Everyone feels the same. If there's no water, there's no water," she says.
Marquez and her daughters can't afford to move because no one will pay a fair price for a house without running water.
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