For generations, people living in Westwater, Utah, had no electricity or running water in their homes.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been working with several entities to help change that.
In September 2022, the Diné (Navajo) community near Blanding in southeastern Utah received electrical power. Now, culinary water is flowing from the taps.
The two-part project is a cooperative effort from the Church, the state of Utah, the city of Blanding, the Navajo Nation, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, with the Church providing a significant amount of financial support.
On Friday morning, April 25, state, community and Church leaders met at the Utah State University Blanding campus to celebrate the running water.
Elder Michael A. Dunn, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the North America Southwest Area presidency, spoke about the collaboration involved.
“We were so grateful to come to the table with state and local and tribal organizations who really wanted to help,” Elder Dunn said in a news release posted on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. “We all bring our own expertise, our own ability to help with resources in ways that many people can’t imagine. It’s not only the Church globally that was able to help here — it’s also our local leaders who really saw the need and kept the issue alive for the Church.”
Hauling water to Westwater
For years, Westwater residents would hike to a creek to get water to use.
Westwater Community President Thomas Chee would carry gallon jugs from the creek to his home as a boy for his grandmother.
“It was a big process. We had to nominate people just to haul water. Most the time, people would do it as volunteers, helping the community,” Chee said.
More recently, residents would truck in water to their homes or fill jugs from distant filling stations. Renae Gene — a member of the Blanding 7th Ward in the Blanding Utah Stake — told the Church News in 2022 how she would have to buy water a few hundred gallons at a time and put it in an outside storage tank.
Bringing electricity and water to Westwater has been a political and logistical challenge over the years.
Westwater was originally a settlement on Bureau of Land Management land, and exists on property that the Navajo Nation purchased a half-century ago. But it isn’t part of or adjacent to the Navajo reservation, nor is it a part of the city of Blanding. That’s why it took so many entities working together to get the project finished.
Utility workers started removing cisterns and connecting pipes to each of the 21 homes in Westwater in March, giving them access to clean, dependable running water.
Just as electricity in their homes changed their lives about three years ago, now water flowing from the faucet is life-changing and exciting, Chee said.
“I got emotional just turning on my own faucet for the first time. I felt really grateful. I appreciate everybody that took a hand and thought of us,” he said. “All the teamwork and effort made a difference — just for a basic need. Finally, we succeeded.”
Utah Lt. Governor Deidre M. Henderson spoke about the collaboration.
“The reason this project is so important is far bigger than the families who benefit from the connection of water to their community,” she said. “The reason this is important is because of what it says about us as a state, as a people, who recognize that we are only as strong and as good as the way we treat the most vulnerable in our communities.”
Many in the Navajo Nation still lack running water in their homes. Henderson said she looks forward to working on the next project together.
“What this project shows is that the impossible becomes possible when we work together, when we stay at the table, when we overcome challenges and obstacles that will inevitably block our path. We find a way around those obstacles by working together,” she said.
Clean water priorities
In 2021, the Church worked with the nonprofit organization DigDeep to bring running water to remote areas of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.
Among its global humanitarian efforts, the Church prioritizes clean water around the world. This is done by working with many organizations and communities to implement sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene projects that benefit millions of people.
Some of those many efforts are listed in the Caring for Those in Need 2024 Summary, found at caringsummary.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and written about in the Church News last month.
These clean water projects and other efforts are done to bless those in need, whoever they are, Elder Dunn said.
“Our scriptures teach us that all are alike unto God, regardless of income or nationality or gender or skin color,” he said. “That’s why the Church is so proud to be involved in so many humanitarian efforts worldwide, be that in Westwater or the West Indies, and whether it’s 29 homes or 29,000 homes. Jesus’ invitation is to provide hope and help. So, we want to be part of living the two great commandments of loving God and loving our neighbors.”
