Last Call at the Oasis

Sunday January 27, 2013 AT 10:00 PM ET/PT on CBC News Network

Video Problems? The full episode is only available inside Canada.
Download Flash Player to view this content.

Watch the promo or the full episode in the player above or watch on a mobile device. Please note: this film is only available for 30 days after the last airdate. video icon

When was the last time you worried about getting a glass of water?

From the producers of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, FOOD, INC. and WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN, LAST CALL AT THE OASIS presents an inspiring wake-up call for why you should be worried, and why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.

With the help of environmental activist Erin Brockovich and such distinguished experts as Peter Gleick and Alex Prud’homme, LAST CALL AT THE OASIS, travels throughout North America shedding light on the vital role water plays in our lives, exposing the defects in the current system, and introducing us to communities in California and Nevada already struggling with its ill-effects, and individuals who are championing revolutionary solutions.

Last Call at the Oasis

And what about the quality of the water that’s left?

We follow famed environmental advocate Erin Brockovich as she visits Midland, Texas, where the bright green water found in a community’s domestic wells has dangerously high levels of hexavalent chromium, the same dangerous toxin she helped to uncover in Hinkley, California in the mid-90s.

What can be done about it?

Academy Award winning director Jessica Yu draws upon the research of leading scientists to explore both the seemingly obvious, but cost-prohibitive practice of desalination, as well as the less expensive, but more environmentally sound “toilet to tap” approach which recycles waste-water into drinking water and has worked extremely well in countries like Singapore. However, in order to gain public acceptance in the U.S., this technology must overcome the “yuck” factor. Psychologist Paul Rozin and actor Jack Black help facilitate an examination of how Madison Avenue and Hollywood might be enlisted to conquer our resistance.

Last Call at the Oasis

Is there any hope?

Despite predictions that this century’s wars will be fought over water access, LAST CALL AT THE OASIS ends on a hopeful note with a visit with Friends of the Earth Middle East, the only regional organization that brings together Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians committed to working cooperatively to tackle the challenges of providing clean water for all three nations that depend on the Jordan River. It underscores the message that the global water crisis affects all of us and that it’s going to take all of us, working together, to fix it.