Local non-profit sending water filters to people of the Navajo Nation

The local non-profit Water With Blessings announced a new partnership June 10 with members of the Navajo Nation to help alleviate contamination that can occur in hauled and stored water the community relies upon in the southwestern United States.

Water With Blessings (WWB), co-founded 10 years ago by Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph Larraine Lauter, donates Sawyer PointONE water filters and provides training to communities that lack access to clean water in 48 countries.

Sister Lauter, who serves as WWB’s executive director, spent some time on the Navajo reservation recently.

“People are eager and interested in receiving the filters,” she said in a recent interview. “Water is a real concern and a daily source of worry.”

The vast reservation, which spans about 27,000 miles across Utah, Arizona and New Mexico is experiencing a 20-year drought that is worsening, said Sister Lauter. The reservation comprises about 47,000 households — approximately 172,000 individuals. Forty percent of homes lack clean water and residents are also concerned about unsafe tap water, said Sister Lauter. Many families haul and store water or rely on bottled water, which is contributing to pollution on a reservation that also struggles with access to trash disposal, she noted.

Continue reading the complete story written by Ruby Thomas here.