cistern

Once back home, Yazzie has her son refill a cistern in the family’s yard.

I prodded him and shouted, “Do you have a cistern, a well, anything?”

Dressed in a Carhartt hoodie and knit cap, he watches a backhoe operator dig a pit for a cistern, which will connect to the new sink that will be installed in the kitchen.

Near the village of Jaun, a construction crew was laying pipes to deliver electricity and water from a new cistern to six local farms.

To provide water for both structures, Hale designed the roof of the bunkhouse with gutters that collect rainwater, which is pumped into cisterns and filtered for use.