Rural Tulare County, Calif., is now being called the epicenter of this drought.
That's because at least 1,300 residential wells have run dry, affecting at least 7,000 people. When your taps start spitting out air here, Paul Boyer and his team are who you call.
Under a punishing midafternoon sun, Boyer helps muscle down five of these hefty 400-pound water tanks from a semi-truck flatbed. He helps run a local nonprofit that's in charge of distributing these 2,500-gallon water tanks to drought victims.
Rural Tulare County, Calif., is now being called the epicenter of this drought.
That's because at least 1,300 residential wells have run dry, affecting at least 7,000 people. When your taps start spitting out air here, Paul Boyer and his team are who you call.
Under a punishing midafternoon sun, Boyer helps muscle down five of these hefty 400-pound water tanks from a semi-truck flatbed. He helps run a local nonprofit that's in charge of distributing these 2,500-gallon water tanks to drought victims.
These are the kinds of tanks you see attached to homes in many parts of the developing world. In Tulare County, it's an urgent matter, since only about 150 have been distributed so far.
"That means, actually, there's more than 1,100 homes that don't have this," Boyer says.
If you're without water, these tanks are definitely a lifeline. They can supply a typical family for about two weeks.
Photo shows five 2,500-gallon water tanks waiting to be unloaded at the nonprofit Self-Help Enterprises near Visalia, Calif. So far about 140 tanks have been distributed to homes, but at least 1,000 more are needed in Tulare County alone. Credit: Kirk Siegler/NPR
Read more at NPR.
