Thank you for your generous gift! This report will introduce you to Martha and the impact you've made in her life.

Welcome to Northwestern New Mexico, just off of Route 66 near the Continental Divide. Martha Etcitty and her family call this beautiful place home.

Unlike most families, Martha 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 her 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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Martha Etcitty has lived in the same home in Mariano Lake all 73 years of her life. This whole time, she had never known what it is like to live with running water. Before the installation of her family’s new water system, she would haul water from Gallup or from family members who live close by.

She shares her childhood home with her daughter and two young grandchildren. Keeping her culture strong, Martha weaves traditional rugs and teaches her granddaughter how to do the same. When weaving is done for the day, she likes to sit down with both of her grandchildren and recount to them stories of her younger days. Every now and then, she spends some time herding her sheep.

Now that her water system is installed, Martha is able to spend the extra money on more supplies for her rugs. She and her family don’t have to worry anymore about spending time to heat their water, or running out. After turning on their faucet for the first time, Martha was able to wash some dishes and bathe her grandchildren. It’s so much easier for Martha to get water, and both she and her family are so grateful for this. 

CHAPTER: MARIANO LAKE CHAPTER, NAVAJO NATION

LOCATION: PREWITT, NEW MEXICO

GPS: 35.581401, -108.326060

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.