Give the Gift of Water this Giving Tuesday

Published December 1, 2020    By Helen Oliff

Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to join in on the global generosity movement to support urgent causes. One of the most critical requests for communities in Indian Country is water. Many of us don’t think twice when we turn on a faucet to wash our hands or pour ourselves a glass of drinking water.

Unfortunately, clean water access is an ongoing crisis in many remote reservation communities. Rising temperatures and declining rainfall over the past century have depleted the groundwater that was once the principal source of drinking water for many Native Americans. Today, tribes face constant legal battles over water access and water rights on Native lands. They also lack infrastructure and funding for necessary repairs and improvements in plumbing.

On the Navajo Nation
alone, 30 percent of residents lack access to running water while 42 percent of
homes do not have complete plumbing facilities. On average, Navajo households
are traveling 48 miles to get drinking water and pay 71 times the amount that urban
area residents pay to access clean water.

This is especially
concerning when we’re fighting a global health pandemic and frequent
handwashing helps deter the spread of the virus. While tribal communities are
enforcing social distancing, curfews and stay-at-home orders to mitigate the
spread of COVID-19, many Native people are nonetheless forced to break these
guidelines to haul water from other places.

Not surprisingly, emergency requests for water have escalated and PWNA is including water in nearly every delivery to the reservations. Already this year, we sent more than 40 shipments of drinking water for nearly 6,500 people. However, we need help from our generous donors to continue to serve those in need.

Today – #GivingTuesday – PWNA will receive matching donations dollar for dollar up to $100,000 to ensure we’re impacting as many lives as possible. We hope you’ll donate today and join us in giving hope and clean water to Native Elders, Children and families.