Blythe is a city in eastern Riverside County, California, an agricultural area along the Colorado River, 224 miles east of Los Angeles and 150 miles west of Phoenix. In 1877, Thomas Blythe signed a water claim that ensured Blythe had unquantified water rights to the Colorado River. The Palo Verde Irrigation District now owns these claims and irrigates just over 100,000 acres in the Colorado Desert. The agriculture industry is responsible for exporting cotton, wheat, and alfalfa, a crop banned by many countries due to its water-intensive nature, which is being shipped back to parent companies in Saudi Arabia. Blythe is home to approximately 21,000 people, of whom 23% live under the poverty line, and 6,000 of those residents reside within one of the two state prisons.