Navajo Water Delivery Impact

September 21, 2023
We are so grateful for DigDeep's incredible support and continued partnership. It is our pleasure to share this update from our implementing partner, DigDeep, about the impact of their water delivery program, which received funding from H2O for Life during the 2022-23 school year!

DIGDEEP’S NAVAJO WATER PROJECT
DigDeep’s mission is to ensure that every American has clean, running water and sanitation forever. In order to carry out this enduring mission on the Navajo Nation, effective water hauling is essential, as most families live in off-grid locations that do not have access to water or sewer lines. For these homes across the Navajo Nation, a large focus of DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project has been the installation of Home Water Systems, which provide running water and solar power for one home. DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project team brings clean water to homes that have a Home Water Water System or other water storage tank provided by DigDeep, filling the cisterns and tanks on a monthly basis. The water delivery program is a vital part of our work to ensure that families more consistently and reliably have access to clean, running water.

DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project has continued to deliver clean drinking water to more than 300 families across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. And with H2O for Life’s support, we’ve been able to bring clean, running water to 50 of those families on the Navajo Nation consistently for six months! That’s an estimated 7,200 gallons of water per home that we were able to deliver, because of YOU. Thank you for your partnership in this important work–we could not have done it without you.

One of our water and solar technicians expressed the importance of the program to DigDeep, offering these words: “My name is Howard Yellowhair, and I drive a water truck for DigDeep Right to Water Project, hauling water to the Navajo people of the Southwest in Utah and Arizona. Homeowners need help with water that they need for everyday life. They are happy to see us; DigDeep water trucks coming up the road. People be waving with joy, and when we fill up their water tank, they are glad with thankfulness. No one is available to haul water for them. Thankful for DigDeep coming to Navajo land.”

SPOTLIGHT STORIES
We are delighted to share these stories from families on the Navajo Nation that received monthly water deliveries: In October 2022, a family of four on the Navajo Nation turned on hot and cold running water in their home for the first time when DigDeep installed a Home Water System that was built off-grid inside a small cabin. Before the Home Water System installation, the family purchased bottled water from a grocery store to meet their daily water needs. Because the family had no truck to haul water, one of the residents would ride his bike several miles to the store to fill up one-gallon water jugs and carry them home in a backpack. Happily, this is no longer necessary. Now, thanks to support from our partners like H2O for Life, this family and families like theirs equipped with DigDeep’s Home Water Systems have reliable access to water inside their homes.

At another home, DigDeep’s Arizona team completed a Home Water System installation for a family that already had a sink in their kitchen. They did so by adapting our system components to the client’s sink, attaining hot and cold running water inside the home. Once the crew finished, the homeowner’s granddaughter was surprised to see the water turn on in her grandma’s house. They were both excited to wash their hands. This family is now also receiving their water monthly through deliveries made by DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project team!

We believe that having clean, running water and sanitation is a human right, and we won’t stop until every home in the United States has it. We are grateful to H2O for Life schools for your partnership to make this vision a reality for families on the Navajo Nation.

A special thanks to Tichon (Congregation Neveh Shalom) for supporting this work!

Photo Gallery