The DigDeep Right to Water Project

DigDeep is a non-profit organization working to ensure that every American has clean, running water forever. We believe that by working together, every American family can achieve clean, running water in our lifetime, and that by learning to better care for our water resources, we can make them last for future generations.

DigDeep is the only water access organization working in the United States, where more than 1.6 million Americans still don't have clean, running water or basic plumbing at home. DigDeep designs community-led water and sanitation (WASH) projects that serve American families, schools and community centers. Our work currently focuses on the Navajo Nation.

DigDeep also runs a number of research, advocacy and education programs to educate Americans about this poorly understood problem, to catalyze a broad base of actors around solutions, and to help DigDeep plan future projects both on and off the Navajo Nation.

Our governing objective is to end the U.S. water crisis in our lifetimes.

DigDeep believes that we can give all Americans the tools to develop and manage their own water access networks in an open, participatory way by utilizing low-cost technologies that are easy to deploy and manage. By doing so, we can increase their agency, putting Americans back at the center of decision-making around their water resources.

We can solve this problem in our lifetimes. To kick-start that process digdeep.org was founded as the first and only community WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization in the U.S. DigDeep's model has four pillars:
I. Advance community-led solutions: by deploying proven WASH strategies to ensure that every American has clean, running water forever.
II. Develop an evidence base: by collecting, sharing and leveraging domestic WASH data to inform our progress toward universal access.
III. Mobilize America: by empowering people to solve this problem in our lifetimes.
IV. Build an ecosystem of change: by facilitating high impact collaboration to lead a diverse, sustainable movement.

Community Engagement & Appropriate Technologies: Our projects are entirely community-led and empower local communities to develop and manage their own water access networks in an open, participatory way by utilizing low-cost technologies that are easy to deploy and manage.

WASH engineering: DIGDEEP is the first organization of its kind in the domestic WASH space. The Navajo Water Project marks the first time proven WASH strategies from the developing world have been leveraged in the US, where infrastructure is typically expended by government and industry. Our water system is the first system of its kind in the United States.

Impact tracking: DIGDEEP releases yearly Impact Reports which include an overview of our growth, projects, and accomplishments throughout the year. Impact reports can be found online here: http://digdeepimpact.org/2018.

Curricular programs: DIGDEEP’s curricular programs educate Americans on how to make their water resources last. Every person needs at least four liters of water a day to cook, clean, drink and bathe according to the World Health Organization. Americans facing water poverty often survive on just four liters of water – while most other Americans use nearly 400. DigDeep’s 4Liters campaign challenges participants to live off of only four liters of water for 24 hours, and simultaneously, educates the public on water usage and preservation in the US.
Nationally, our work compliments efforts to promote legislative responses to water quality issues (ex. Community Water Center), to provide training and resources to rural communities facing water / wastewater issues (ex. SERCAP, RCAP) and to advance equity within traditional utilities (US Water Alliance).

Research: We are preparing a national “hotspot” research study with the U.S. Water Alliance to better understand critical WASH needs at various hotspots around the country. This study is the first of its kind ever conducted on WASH needs in the US, and its research will inform the way we scale off-reservation and open the space for other actors.

Advocacy: To ensure DIGDEEP works to mobilize America by empowering young people to solve this problem in their lifetimes and in doing so, builds an Ecosystem of Change by facilitating high-impact collaboration to lead a diverse, sustainable movement.

Our work began on the Navajo Nation, one of the hardest-hit pockets of water poverty in the country. The Navajo Water Project currently brings clean, hot-and-cold running water to 250 families across nine chapters (local governmental units) in rural New Mexico. In June 2018, the Navajo Water Project expanded into a new cluster of towns in Arizona and Utah. We’ve also invested in a number of one-off projects on the Navajo Nation that serve places like schools and families with special needs.

We won the 2018 US Water Prize for advancing sustainable, integrated, and inclusive solutions to water challenges in America and working to secure a sustainable water future for all.

In November 2019 we’ll release the first national study on Americans without access to water and sanitation, including an action plan to close the “water access gap” forever.

We’re currently developing new, community-led water projects in areas of need identified in our national research.