A dire warning about California’s future — from the man who fixes wells that irrigate agriculture here

California is forcing thousands of Central Valley farmers and landowners to make major cuts to their water use because the drought here is so severe right now.

The cuts only apply to surface water (water that sits in reservoirs). To make up for those water losses, farmers can use well water, which is extracted from aquifers deep underground. But a lot of the wells are also running dry.

Journalist and author Mark Arax followed a man whose job is to fix the wells bringing water to those farms. He told Arax that the drought conditions he’s working in now are challenging what he has believed.