About 45 minutes west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, past miles of desert and secluded casinos, is the junction for To’Hajiilee, a noncontiguous region of the Navajo Nation.

About 2,000 people live here, but none of them have access to good quality drinking water indoors. So for the last few years, the Navajo government has been providing bottled water to the community.

Five people unloaded about 1,200 gallons of bottled water from a semi truck into a metal barn on a recent cool morning. Without these deliveries, more people would have to drive to Albuquerque to buy drinking water and bring it home.

The natural water here is from Rio Puerco and not very good. Former officials say it is corrosive and contains rust and hydrogen sulfide — a gas that causes a rotten egg smell.

“I can smell it all the time,” said Yvonne Apachito, who helps run the front desk at the To’Hajiilee Chapter House, the local government headquarters.

When Apacito moved a pallet of bottled water into the barn, she explained that residents were showering with water from Rio Puerco. sometimes They wash their clothes with it, but no one drinks it.

“I always have to get bottled water, even to boil water,” she said.

The chapter house tries to distribute water once a month, with each family given five cases of bottled water and a few gallon jugs. About 300 families usually appear.

While To’Hajiilee’s isolation from the rest of the Navajo Nation is somewhat unique, the lack of access to clean drinking water has affected the entire vast reservation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. is common in

People who live in the Navajo Nation 67 times more likely According to the U.S. Water Alliance, they have less running water and toilets than other Americans. His 2021 national report by the Alliance and DigDeep reveals that “race is the strongest predictor of access to water and sanitation.”

Yvonne’s daughter, Leana Apacito, also works at the Chapterhouse and recounts how she grew up in Tohajiri.

“It was hard. As usual, I had to go to Albuquerque to get water,” she said.

They would typically drive to Costco or Walmart once a week, and sometimes to the laundromat. If the water delivered is less than his one month, it remains a family routine.

But a game changer is coming to To’Hajiilee. This is a seven-mile pipeline that carries water from the Rio Grande River.

Mark Begay is the former president of the To’Hajiilee chapter and has run its water system for decades. That means taking care of the communal well. According to him, due to the corrosive water he has all but one collapsed, and he suspects they are nearing the end of their life.

“It could go away at any moment,” said Begay. Every time it works, we put in about $50,000. ”

About 20 years ago, the chapter began looking at more efficient ways to provide clean, reliable drinking water to communities, he said.

They took a break in 2019.

The Navajo purchased water rights from another tribe. But how will they get it to Tohajiri? They didn’t own the land for the proposed pipeline route. The negotiations involved dozens of landowners, engineers, state, federal and tribal officials and dragged on for years. Begay was tough.

“I was depressed, upset, and couldn’t sleep,” he said, pausing to control his emotions through tears.

Then, on Veterans Day 2020, I got a call from a state legislator.

“He said, ‘Mr. Begay, I have some good news for you. It’s done. We’ve reached an agreement. The water will come.'”

“I fell to my knees,” he said. “I felt great that day. It was worth it.”

Funding for this project comes from the Navajo Nation, various state and county funds, and federal COVID aid.

Project engineers expect pipeline construction to begin this summer.

supported this story water deskan initiative of the University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Journalism Center.

This article was written by Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio, Idaho, KUNR, Nevada, Rocky Mountain West O’Connor Center, Montana, KUNC, Colorado, and KUNM, New Mexico, for regional coverage. I have support from the agency. A portion of the Mountain West News Bureau funds are public broadcasting association.