The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation

Water is Flowing

Grant Information
Categories Healthcare , Community , Environment
Location United States
Cycle Year 2022
Organization Information
Organization Name (provided by applicant) Antinanco Earth Arts School
Organization Name (provided by automatic EIN validation)
Antinanco earth arts school
EIN 47-3280825
Website http://www.antinanco.org
Contact Information
Contact Name Ms. Olga Sher
Phone 19176851223
E-mail osher@antinanco.org
Address
46 SEVEN OAKS CIRCLE
Holmdel
NJ
07733
Additional Information
Used for The Project assists the Navajo people and their neighbors in Arizona and New Mexico ("Communities") with clean water solutions. The Navajo Nation's access to clean running water is affected by the lack of infrastructure, absence of comprehensive governmental policy, and uranium waste from abandoned mines. The Project offers a solar-based solution that brings pressurized running water into households from an external water source.
Benefits The funds will help us to supply access to clean water for Hopi, Navajo and Zuni elders, veterans, sick and disabled residents living in the remote areas of Arizona and New Mexico. The Community members we serve are the keepers of the stories, history, traditions and culture who live in desperate third world-like conditions: dirt-floored, uninsulated, sub-standard housing with no running water or electricity, and leaking roofs. The funds will benefit those who can’t physically drive 1-1.5 hours over dirt roads to reach watering points, or haul water home from external watering sources to cook, bathe or drink.
Proposal Description

Antinanco is seeking a grant in the amount of $5,000 to continue the Water is Flowing (To'h Ni'li) Project. The Project is currently in the third year and was born as a result of the COVID-related crisis and requests for clean water and water barrels. To date, together with our on-the-ground partner, K’eh Native Action (“K’eh”), and other partners, we donated close to 750 water barrels to households with no running water and delivered over 10,000 gallons of water to the Communities. None of the households we serve have running water in their homes. Elders, veterans, sick and disabled struggle with getting water out of the barrels and totes, and lifting the containers to carry them back inside. We have chosen to address this challenge using a solar-powered water solution, which, along with the continued and expanded water distribution effort, is the focus of the Project. The solar-powered pump that brings pressurized running water from external water sources into the household is a solution that we developed in 2021. We have already designed, built, tested and installed the first fifteen units of To’h Ni’li for the first households in the Communities and received very positive feedback. To’h Ni’li provides reliable, cost-effective solution for the water insecurity in a way that allows elders and disabled to continue living independently and with the land. The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation grant, if awarded, will allow us to expand this effort and: (a) manufacture, install and service 10 additional To’h Ni’li units, providing 10 more households with access to running water at home; and (b) procure and install 10 275-gallon water storing tanks for the households with no or much smaller water holding containers.  

Our Goals and Objectives:

  1. Together with the on-the-ground partners, set up a comprehensive water distribution plan and outline priority households with the most acute need of the 275-gallon water storing tanks and To’h Ni’li units.
  2. Procure and install 10 275-gallon water storing tanks.
  3. Manufacture, assemble and install 10 additional To’h Ni’li units.
  4. Provide additional training to the installation team, and expand the team by at least one additional member.  
  5. Provide ongoing assistance, support and troubleshooting to the households with To’h Ni’li Units while the families learn to use the units and ration water in a new way.
  6. Train community members to perform installations and service of To’h Ni’li, and involve recipients in learning how their solar-powered systems operate and how to maintain the units. 
  7. Offer educational presentations and To’h Ni’li installation demonstrations to the Communities’ members and youth and involve them in the Project as volunteers.
  8. Develop and distribute To’h Ni’li installation and user manuals/guides.
  9. Research the possibility of setting up partial or full manufacturing of To’h Ni’li on the ground.
  10. Research the possibility of procuring To’h Ni’li parts and components locally.
  11. Over the span of the Project cycle, provide (a) more consistent access to clean water, improving the quality of life; (b) more households with access to running water at home; (c) cleaner and safer water for human consumption; (d) more skills and jobs created in the Communities; (e) better organized and coordinated water distribution efforts on the ground; (f) new opportunities for the Communities and young people to work with solar energy and green technologies; (g) more integrated and efficient water use and distribution.