The International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Foundation’s Community Plumbing Challenge began today in Navajo Mountain region on the Arizona-Utah border.

Presented in collaboration with the award-winning DigDeep Navajo Water Project, CPC Navajo Mountain brings together a unique team of volunteer tradespeople to deliver running water and safe wastewater disposal for family homes situated in the remote and isolated Piute Mesa area of Navajo Mountain.

“We will be working in homes over the next five days, putting in water systems and septic systems,” said Randy Lorge, IWSH organizing team member and newly appointed Director of Workforce Training and Development for The IAPMO Group. “We have crews coming in from various parts of the United States and overseas to assist. It is going to be an exciting week, and we are going to change some families’ lives for the better.

“The terrain out here, in the Piute Mesa area in the northeastern corner of Arizona, makes it so difficult for the community to get their water,” he added. “But we have surveyed the overall condition of the homes we will be working in, and now have a good grasp of what needs to be done so that we can get these folks what they need.”

The event is benefiting from the support of such prominent companies as Ferguson, Milwaukee Tool, WinSupply, LIXIL and Reliance Worldwide Corporation (RWC). Additionally, three United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the United States, Canada (UA) chapters — Local 400 in Kaukauna, Wisconsin; Local 412 in New Mexico and El Paso, Texas; and Local 469 in Phoenix — sent members and/or made financial contributions.Companies or organizations who wish to support the CPC Navajo Mountain project, or any other future editions of the international CPC program, are encouraged to get in touch via info@iwsh.org. One-time, tax-deductible donations to support these efforts can also be made via www.iwsh.org/donate.