Workers delivered bottled water to residents of the parched city of Okieville California in the summer of 2015
Chapter ONE EXTREME DROUGHT In Okieville California in 2015 residents measured the water they used in drops not gallons Then as the fourth year of extreme drought in the state continued the town’s wells went dry Nothing came out of the taps except air or sand The hillsides were parched and barren Children played on dry soil where lawns once thrived Layers of dust coated everything Residents saved rationed recycled and cherished every single drop of water Nothing was wasted OKIEVILLE In the 1930s settlers from the dry Great Plains hoping to make a new start founded Okieville located in California’s Central Valley Today it is a town of approximately 100 homes They mostly belong to farmworkers and their families who work in the 5
THE WATER QUEEN As the number of dry wells in Tulare County rose one woman was in charge of finding long-term solutions for residents Denise England water resources program manager for Tulare County became known as the Water Queen as she directed state and federal funds to those most in need The California Disaster Assistance Act had historically been used following emergencies such as floods and fires In these events the devastation is easily visible and understandable The funds had never been applied to drought relief so England’s efforts were laying the groundwork for future drought responses You’re trying to take things that make a lot of sense in flood or a fire and you’re trying to apply it for drought she said 5 To begin immediate relief in Tulare County England oversaw the installation of water tanks at private residences while at the same time seeking the viable long-term solutions residents needed surrounding fields on some of the nation’s most productive farms Maria Medina and her family live in Okieville and their well went dry after more than four years of drought Okieville used to be such a pretty place I had grass Now I just have a poor dog chained up to a dead tree 1 The Medinas are not alone In rural Tulare County where Okieville is located and groundwater is being pumped for agriculture more than 1,700 wells were dry by September 2015 2 With no water coming out of the taps some families in Okieville came together to run pipes or hoses into the wells of neighbors sharing what little was left of the water in the aquifers Many families were forced to fill buckets with the few drops that came out of hoses just to flush their toilets Dealing with the water shortage became a tedious time-consuming chore Other families began relying on state aid Starting in 2014 California governor Jerry Brown allocated 3 7 billion for drought-relief programs 3 Those who owned their homes were among the luckiest because they qualified for a 2,500-gallon 9,464 L tank filled weekly by water trucked in by the state government 4 Renters weren’t so lucky Rental homes weren’t eligible for the tanks because the tanks were 6
Okieville resident Tino Lozano used a hose to extract water from his nearly dry well 7
