California water law, like a few other Western states, is based on a simple premise: first in time, first in right. In other words, whoever got to the river first got the rights to it. According to Erie, water rights holders in the Imperial Valley control 75 percent of California's claims on the Colorado River, which means they control how much water cities like Los Angeles and San Diego get.

"It is the holy grail," said Erie. "And it is power."

Some of that water is used to grow hay year round to be sold to local dairy farms and shipped overseas. The area is a major exporter of alfalfa hay to the United Arab Emirates and Asia. Most of that hay is used to feed cows.

Farmer Bill Lewis says that until recently a fellow farmer grew hay that was used as feed for hamsters in Japan. “They used to sell it for pellets for hamster feed," he said. "But now they don’t do it, so somebody else took it over. Competition I guess.”

But if the nation wants hamburgers and steaks, they need to let hay grow in the Imperial Valley, said farmer Al Kalin, whose family has been farming the area for a century.