CONTACT | digdeep

Who Are We?

Hi, my name is Meagan Redstone and I am an Environmental Earth and Soil Science major at CalPoly. I think that sustainability should play a role in everyone's life and hope to minor in sustainability here at CalPoly. I am a SLOcal and love learning about new innovative ways to improve our lives while decreasing our environmental footprint.

Hi, my name is Kaelyn Rohm and I am a Business Information Systems Major at California Polytechnic State University. I am firm supporter of DigDeep's belief that access to clean water is a human right. My hope for this project is to raise awareness about the difficulties facing the Navajo Nation and what DipDeep is doing to help.

Hello, my name is Daniel Stewart and I am a senior at California Polytechnic State University studying information systems. After learning of the water crisis of the Navajo people and DIGDEEP's efforts to help, I knew that I wanted to get involved. I am very supportive of DIGDEEP's development model and truly believe they are making a tremendous difference in the world. My goal in working on this project is to bring this issue to the forefront of people's minds. So often, individuals feel the need to seek elsewhere to get involved or make a difference, but this is a people group that is struggling and hurting here in our own Country, and I strongly believe we should do whatever we can to help.

Welcome to our website! We are a team of California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo students who, after taking an appropriate technology class focusing in development, became motivated to do our part in global development. Specifically, we were each individually moved after hearing about the water poverty on the Navajo Tribal Reservation, where approximately 80,000 tribal members live in water poverty. After hearing of this injustice, we got in contact with George McGraw, the founder of DIGDEEP, an American non-profit that works to defend the right to clean water as a basic human right.

One of the most pressing issues that has surfaced since our involvement in this water project is the growing need for the current water systems that DIGDEEP installs to be completely self-sustaining through the use of solar energy. Now, on this team, none of us our engineers, and we lack the technical know-how to design a viable solution to this issue. However, what we can do is raise awareness and make the right connections to solve this pressing dilemma. What we aim to do is connect with professors at CalPoly that specialize in hydro-engineering, with the goal to have a professor or a team of professors oversee one or multiple senior projects where a team of engineering students, who are equipped with the necessary education and technical skills, design a fully functional system that can be used by DIGDEEP to provide the Navajo nation with clean water.

Lastly, we believe that this issue is grossly understated and overlooked by America. One of the primary issues the Navajo Tribe faces is the fact that the majority of available shallow wells are heavily contaminated with radioactive chemicals and cannot be used for anything other than crop irrigation. It has to be understood that if it were not for the United State's uranium mining efforts post world war II and the subsequent testing of nuclear weapons, tens of thousands of Navajo Tribal members would not be living in water poverty. Ultimately, the United States is largely responsible for causing this issue, and the rest of the nation has sat at idle too long. It is time for action. It is time to right this wrong. Each American individual may not have had a hand in causing this problem, but every single person can have a hand in its solution.

All too often, Americans look elsewhere to aid a developing nation. It is now time to take care of our own people. Please, take the time to go to DIGDEEP.org, and, if you feel compelled to do so, make a donation to help the tens of thousands of Navajo people living in water poverty, surviving on less that 10 gallons of water per day.

Hello, my name is Alejandro Montenegro and I am a Finance Major at California Polytechnic State University. After discovering the issues faced by the Navajo nation and the United States' indifference to their lack of basic needs, I decided to pursue this project. DIGDEEP's model of development for the implementation of drilling new deep-water wells is a great start, but at the moment is completely funded by donations. This being the case, I believe that by raising awareness, we could make a real difference.