Implementing Partner Highlight: Dig Deep
Our partnership with Dig Deep sees awareness and funds raised around Navajo Nation and their need for clean water access.
Dig Deep’s Navajo Water Project started in 2014, and from their first project in Thoreau, NM, the program and has grown to serve more than 250 families across 9 towns in New Mexico alone. In 2018, Dig Deep opened new project offices in Navajo Mountain, UT and Dilkon, AZ and are continuing to expand across the Navajo Nation.
More than 150 years ago, the Navajo and many other tribes signed treaties with the federal government giving up their land in exchange for funding of things like housing, infrastructure and health care, but for decades that hasn’t happened. The fact is, Navajo are 67 times more likely than other Americans to live without running water or a toilet and about 1/3 of Navajo families have to haul water home every single day.
The Navajo Water Project is a community-managed utility alternative that brings hot and cold running water to homes without access to water or sewer lines, and is the first system of its kind in the United States.
Dig Deep develops new sources where water is pumped, treated and stored locally. Next, they deliver water in food grade trucks to hundreds of families living close to each source. The home water systems provide 1200 gallons of hot and cold running water and solar power, and the entire project is guided by a council of clients and local leaders.
To learn more about Dig Deep and the Navajo Water Project visit our Hometown H2O page or visit Dig Deep’s website.