Navajo Tribal Utility Authority®

Building self-operating watering stations

 

NTUA is partnering with Wend Foundation and the Catena Foundation to repair watering stations on the Navajo Nation that serve residents who do not have running water in their homes. The two foundations are providing a total of $500,000 to repair six chapter watering points that were not operating and three new water loading stations. Any savings will go to repair other water supply operations.

 

 

Assisting Water Warriors group with water hauling effort

 

 

A few weeks after the pandemic surfaced on the Navajo Nation, a handful of individuals formed the Water Warriors group to haul water to the most isolated and remote homesteads spread throughout the Navajo Nation, understanding there had to be families who didn’t have the means to haul water, especially since the Navajo Nation issued a lockdown that prohibited people from leaving their homes.

 

This benevolent mission started as a small operation and has blossomed into a Nationwide effort. When they finished one region, they moved to the next in a caravan of pickup trucks pulling flatbed trailers and truck beds filled with dozens of blue 100-gallon water barrels.

 

When the group reached the Fort Defiance agency, it reached out to NTUA for assistance with a water source. A partnership was reached and the water convoy delivered to more than 20 homes. The homes were identified by community Chapter Health Representatives. The group hauled and filled water barrels for households, mostly elderly in the local area, hearing grateful praises from family members. The group demonstrated a need for a Fort Defiance area watering point. NTUA now plans to create a local watering station so area families will not have to drive 30 miles to Gallup and back for water. The watering point is expected to be completed by August.