Thank you for your generous gift! This report will introduce you to Art and Sheila's family and the impact you've made in their lives.
Welcome to Northwestern New Mexico, just off of Route 66 near the Continental Divide. The family calls this beautiful place home.
Unlike most families, Art and Sheila's has always struggled to get enough clean water to do basic things like take a bath or cook a meal.
But not any more.
All of that changed when you and DIGDEEP brought them running water for the first time ever.
We've prepared this report to show you your impact. Let's get started!
When we imagine life without clean water, we often think of places like Sub-Saharan Africa - communities that barely resemble our own. But at last count, an estimated 1.7 million Americans still don't have clean, running water or a flush toilet at home.
American families without clean water live lives totally different from yours. They wake up and collect water from a source outside their home, fetching it in buckets and boiling it on the stove. When desperate, many haul water from unsafe sources contaminated with bacteria, arsenic or even uranium.
DIGDEEP is the only global water organization working on projects here in the US. We're starting that work on the Navajo Nation. By focusing on low-tech, high-impact solutions, DIGDEEP is making a big impact in this area.
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Check out these photos from the project and keep reading for more information on the technology we used.
You are awesome. You really, really are.
Thanks for sharing your hard-earned resources with a family in need. No American should live without clean, running water. Your generosity proves that we're all in this together!
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COPY AND PASTE ME >> http://www.digdeepreports.org/art
Art and Sheila are loving parents of five children; Makayla, Dalroy, Katlynn, Devin, and Delton. The family has been living in this house for 4 years, and for all that time they have been without running water.
It has been a struggle to raise the kids without indoor plumbing. Before DIGDEEP installed their new home water system, Art and Sheila would haul water to their house in buckets and barrels from many miles away. It took them lot of time, money, and effort.
But now the family finally has safe, clean running water in their home, for the first time in four years!
For Art and Sheila, family is the most important thing in their lives. They are so thankful for running water because they are able to cook and clean easier, and their children now get to bathe everyday.
With all the time saved from not having to haul water anymore, Art loves to take the kids horseback riding and teaching the youngest ones to ride and take care of their horses. Sheila cannot wait to spend more time with the whole family, and her favourite part of the day is going for walks in the evening after dinner and watching the sunset with the little ones.
The whole family is incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to the project, from the team on the ground to the donors who made it possible.
CHAPTER: THOREAU CHAPTER, NAVAJO NATION
LOCATION: PREWITT, NEW MEXICO
GPS: 35.410768, -108.204083
COMPLETED: SEPTEMBER, 2017
TECHNOLOGY: CISTERN AND SOLAR
SOURCE: WATER TRUCK
LOCAL ALLY: ST. BONAVENTURE
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We collect a TON of project data; this is just a snapshot.
Every DIGDEEP project uses a Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) that measures the way water access achieves other key goals like health, gender equity, and access to education.
Every DIGDEEP project is community-led and uses locally-appropriate technology. Benefiting families contribute labor and resources, participate in the installation, and are trained to use and maintain the equipment we install.
This water system is one small part of the larger Navajo Water Project - a multi-million dollar initiative to bring clean, running water to hundreds of families in Northwest New Mexico.
We're investing in home water systems, solar solutions, water trucking programs and new clean water sources like wells.
Explore the whole Navajo Water project by visiting the website: digdeep.org/navajo
DIGDEEP believes in real empowerment, measurable impact and radical transparency.
We use 100% of every donation to support to communities in need. The families we serve do their part too, by contributing supplies and labor.
When we work together, we can do amazing things.
This project uses cistern and pump technology, a reliable water storage and delivery solution for remote areas. Because this home doesn't have electricity, we power the pump with a solar panel and battery array.
We also installed solar-powered LED lights to light the home at night.
Water is delivered bi-monthly to a 1200 gallon cistern buried two feet underground. By burying the cistern, water is protected from sunlight, contamination and freezing.
Water is then pumped into the home by a direct current pump, through a particulate water filter, propane water heater and into a sink.
Each cistern system is built with the help of the benefitting family, who are taught to maintain and upgrade their system as needed. The Navajo Water Project uses local labor and sources local parts when available.
Now that you've seen the incredible impact your gift can have, why not give again?
It costs $14 a month to deliver water to this house. And there are hundreds of families like this one waiting for a water system of their own.
You can sponsor that amount every month, make a new gift to a family in need or even give in someone's name.
We'll use 100% of your gift on another project like this one, and we'll send you another impact report.