Cruz

Image from County Story

Cruz lives in the Cochran Colonia just outside El Paso with her family of twelve. She considers her family lucky because they have had a jerry-rigged system that funnels water from a storage tank outside through a pipe into their home. But still, every summer when the weather is sweltering hot in the Texas heat, the water storage tank develops mold and the water that comes through the pipe has a strong smell. She would add a cap or two of bleach while washing dishes or before using the water to protect her and her family, but still she lived with the fear that one of them would end up in the hospital. Cruz shared “It’s been a hard path that we had to go through. As a person, we don’t deserve to be without, but yet it's the reality”. Following decades of “making it work” Cruz and her family received access to clean, running water at home when the Cochran colonia project was completed. For years, Cruz and her neighbors advocated for their right to this basic necessity, and now, water finally flows in this tight-knit community.

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