AP PHOTOS: Neighbors fill buckets, pray for rain in drought
By GREGORY BULL, Associated Press
Aug 30, 2015 9:22 AM CDT
In this July 2, 2015 Elias Trejo, center, throws a ball with his sister, Celeste, left, on the dry dirt where the family's lawn once stood in the community of Okieville, on the outskirts of Tulare, Calif. As California endures a fourth year of drought, water scarcity has become the new normal, inconveniencing...   (Associated Press)

OKIEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — People living in this dusty neighborhood called Okieville at the heart of California's Central Valley know the harsh reality of drought. Many of their wells have dried up, so some neighbors rig lines from house to house to share water from the remaining wells deep enough to hit water. Others benefit from state drought relief that pays for trucked-in water to fill tanks.

Miles of the nation's most productive farms surround Okieville — a neighborhood of about 100 homes named for refugees who came west from Oklahoma during the 1930s Dust Bowl — but many residents come home at night after working in the fields and wonder if they'll be able to take a shower or flush their toilet.

Despite these challenges, people in Okieville are proud to call it home. Rather than moving out, they're coming together.

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