{"id":14228,"date":"2021-07-19T15:12:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=14228"},"modified":"2021-07-19T15:13:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:13:11","slug":"cronkite-news-warriors-continue-to-bring-water-to-navajo-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/07\/19\/cronkite-news-warriors-continue-to-bring-water-to-navajo-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Warriors continue to bring water to Navajo Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tQ&A: How one man helped get water to Navajos in need | Cronkite News\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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A year since its founding, Water Warriors United has delivered more than 250,000 gallons of water to Navajo Nation residents. Founder Zoel Zohnnie talks abou…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Cronkite News Video by Gianluca D\u2019Elia: Q&A – How one man helped get water to Navajos in need<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Q&A: How one warrior mobilized to deliver water to the Navajo Nation<\/div>\r\n
Monday, July 19, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Gianluca D\u2019Elia<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nPHOENIX, Arizona — Not long after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in 2020, Zoel Zohnnie was laid off from his pipe welding job. But the Tuba City native knew other members of the Navajo Nation were faring far worse.

<\/P>\r\nTo mitigate the effects of the pandemic, Zohnnie, 43, launched Water Warriors United<\/a>, a project to deliver water across the reservation, where an estimated 30% of 174,000 residents lack<\/a> running water and often must travel long distances to haul it back to their homes.

<\/P>\r\nIn the past year, Water Warriors United has seen robust crowdfunding and a growing team of volunteers. As of May, the Warriors had delivered 250,000 gallons<\/a> of water to more than 20 communities on the reservation, which stretches 27,000 square miles across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

<\/P>\r\nThe Navajo Nation, which has reported more than 31,000 COVID-19 cases<\/a> and 1,360 deaths, received $1.8 billion<\/a> as part of the coronavirus stimulus package President Joe Biden signed earlier this year. Part of that funding allows for investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure, and Zohnnie and other tribal members are hoping for change, finally, to some persistent problems.

<\/P>\r\nJust a few weeks shy of his initiative\u2019s first anniversary, Zohnnie stopped on a delivery trip through the Four Corners region to speak with Cronkite News about his efforts to date \u2013 and what\u2019s coming next for this grassroots program.

<\/P>\r\n \"Water<\/a>

Volunteers with Water Warriors United set out to deliver water across the Navajo Nation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization has four 16-foot flatbed trucks that carry 550-gallon tanks, hoses, equipment and a water pump. Photo courtesy of Water Warriors United<\/figcaption>\r\n

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When we last spoke with you, the pandemic was at its height. How did COVID-19 affect the Navajo Nation, and how are residents doing now?<\/div>\r\nOne of the biggest impacts was how many people got sick and died. A lot of family members and people I know came down with it. \u2026 I lost family members, as well. It helps you put things into a better perspective as to why you decided to do it, and why you feel like you should continue, even though the pandemic has lessened. I can\u2019t say it’s gone away.

<\/P>\r\nThere are still homes without drinking water, still homes without running water, still homes in the far areas of the Navajo Nation that won\u2019t ever have it.

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How has the Water Warriors campaign grown?<\/div>\r\nI\u2019m still working off of crowdfunding, donations and help until we can get some grant funding and salaries put together. We’re growing at our own speed. Our group is not in a hurry to get to any giant, tremendous, humongous goals. We’re just trying to evolve accordingly, keep our head down, stay busy, and just keep getting people help out there. …

<\/P>\r\nWe’ve got more trucks, we’ve got more equipment, we’re able to haul more water more efficiently, and we’ve got better connections with people in certain areas. We’ve made a pretty decent name for ourselves on the Navajo Nation as an organization that does show up and does get work done and does it safely and does it for the right reasons.

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Can you tell us about some of the people you\u2019ve helped and the challenges they\u2019ve faced?<\/div>\r\nA lot of the people that were hardest hit overall, besides the people who did get sick \u2026 are the people who made their living on the reservation. It\u2019s really hard to come by a job. There\u2019s a lot of people that got worse off because they weren\u2019t able to work, weren\u2019t able to travel to their job.

<\/P>\r\nWe\u2019ve serviced some homes where arts and crafts and the jewelry that they make and sell to the tourists that pass through for the Grand Canyon or for Monument Valley \u2026 that’s their livelihood, that’s how they support their kids and their family. For them not to be able to do that, throughout the pandemic and even now \u2026 it’s hard for a lot of them.

<\/P>\r\n \"Zoel<\/a>

When COVID-19 started sweeping across the Navajo Nation, Zoel Zohnnie noticed elders and others were unable to access water stations on the reservation. So he purchased a water tank and started hauling water to them. Photo courtesy of MJ Harrison<\/figcaption>\r\n

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Access to water isn\u2019t a new problem on the reservation. How did the pandemic further spotlight this issue?<\/div>\r\nI think those issues are being addressed on a broader level than they were before the pandemic. Other organizations understood what more people were going through and voiced it to our tribal government. The hard part for me is that the tribal government knew already. \u2026 But it took a pandemic, it took people dying, it took keeping people home, it took all these things that came up for them to actually say … \u201cNow we hear you.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nI’m grateful for it, and I know a lot of people out there are really thankful that changes have been made and are being further made. There\u2019s still several things that need to happen. Hopefully as time goes on our group and other groups can all pitch in and make it a little bit better even after the pandemic, not just quit and stop because everything goes \u201cback to normal.\u201d

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What more should be happening at the government level, whether tribal, state or federal?<\/div>\r\nThe only thing I can express my opinions about is our tribal government, and to me the way that they go back and forth with the money that they’re supposed to use to help the reservation, people, it takes forever. Right now, people are out there needing help ASAP.

<\/P>\r\nIt\u2019s really hard, and I get the politics of it, but as you go further and further up the chain of command, or things get bigger and bigger as far as finances go, it just becomes more about policy and less about humanitarian efforts. \u2026 Right now I’m going to a guy’s home \u2013 he can’t walk, he’s wheelchair bound. He needs a ramp, he needs handrails, he needs water, he needs plumbing. And there’s money sitting in the Navajo Nation capital. \u2026 I don\u2019t know where my role is in changing all that. \u2026 But maybe in time, things will evolve and we\u2019ll be more involved hands-on with the processes.

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What are some positive changes that have happened?<\/div>\r\nThere have been some new water lines run, some communities that have organized and they now haul water. A lot of other groups and organizations stepped up as well, and got more help out there, because there were a lot of people that went without for a long time. …

<\/P>\r\nThere\u2019ve been quite a few people who jumped in and stepped up. Even the people who just take a day and volunteer on their off days from their job. Those hours add up across the whole Navajo Nation for whatever group they\u2019re helping. Somebody kicks in 20 bucks and they say, \u201cOh, that’s all I got.\u201d That’s not the way I look at it. There’s no dollar sign on the amount of heart that you contribute.

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Have any efforts similar to yours started up since last summer?<\/div>\r\nThere are other nonprofits \u2026 some nonprofits actually creating jobs, which is what we hope to do. But we just hope for it not to become a job where somebody punches a clock, drops water off, and goes home and doesn’t care.

<\/P>\r\nThere are people that are trying to organize. I see that more now than last year. People have opened their hearts to attempting to get things together to help those around them. Another thing that came out of the pandemic, in a good way, is that change.

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