DRY WELLS OF THE PASO BASIN: A TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS 

DRY WELLS OF THE PASO BASIN: A TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS  imageDRY WELLS OF THE PASO BASIN: A TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS  imageDRY WELLS OF THE PASO BASIN: A TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS  image
                         

A tragedy of the commons occurs when an individual or group uses more than their share of a publicly owned resource for their self-interest, which leads to the depletion of the resource for the entire community. (William Foster Lloyd, 1833; Garret Hardin, 1968)

I collaborated with Boris Jocoy, Artistic Director of ShadoWalker Media, on Dry Wells of The Paso Basin: A Tragedy of the Commons, a feature length, point-of-view documentary. We investigated the environmental status of San Luis Obispo County's Paso Basin. Begining in the 1990s, agricultural corporations and other investors began buying thousands of acres of cultivated and uncultivated land with water rights in the County's pastoral wine country. They planted new vineyards and drilled dozens of 800 feet in depth wells that pump the Paso Basin's water into vast irrigation ponds. Within a few decades, wells of 200 to 400 feet in depth that had long provided fresh water for residences and small farms and ranches began drying up. Most of the folks with dry wells cannot afford the $60,000 to $80,000 needed to drill deeper, and without water, their land has no collateral value for a loan. This documentary tells that story through a focus on three small landowners whose properties, livelihoods, and hopes for their futures have been crushed by dried up wells -- and by following how they and their neighbors organize social force to participate in local political processes to assert their water rights, and their environmental concerns for the Paso Basin.

THE OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR DRY WELLS IS AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ON:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1008664313
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtAjW2ES4s

AWARDS
  • "Best of Festival," WRPN Women's International Film Festival.
  • "Outstanding Excellence," Documentaries Without Borders International Film Festival.
  • "Best Environmental Documentary," Better Earth International Film Festival.

FILM FESTIVAL OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
  • Documentaries Without Borders International Film Festival.
  • Cinema Verde Environmental Film and Arts Festival.
  • WRPN Women's International Film Festival.
  • Better Earth International Film Festival.
  • The Impact DOCS Award Film Festival.