the farmers' plight
Farming on the plains of Colorado has always been subject to arid climate and drought. What little precipitation falls on the Eastern Plains is usually limited to the summer months and often comes as raging hail storms that do more damage than good. A complex water rights system that evolved over generations regulates the access of the farmers to the scarce irrigation water of the region's rivers and reservoirs. But with the increasing urbanization of recent decades, this system was pushed to unforeseen limits.
To cover their ever increasing thirst, the surrounding cities have started to buy up the water rights of retiring or frustrated farmers, thus drying up their farms for good. In the process, they gain more and more control over the cooperatively managed reservoir and irrigation companies. And while more and more farmers sell and abandon the farms that have been in their families for generations, others try to squeeze out a living with whatever water they have left.