Delivery of Drinking Water and Sanitation Utilities in Alaskan Villages Using Collaborative Principles: Innovation Leading to More Sustainable Communities

Environmental and public health professionals have tackled sustainability of drinking water and sanitation facilities in rural and remote Alaska. The Y-K Delta pilot effort was designed to bring piped drinking water and sanitation services to communities formerly on water haul systems for drinking water and “honey bucket” sanitation. That pilot led to a statewide drinking water and sanitation initiative with 27 communities as partners with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. For decades, practically every Governor and numerous Alaskan politicians have decried the lack of clean drinking water and sewage treatment systems in Alaskan villages. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in pursuit of this goal. Yet a tremendous need still exists, as demonstrated by extensive requests each year and limited budgets.

Clean water and proper sanitation have significant public health benefits. We will profile these in our introduction, including reducing expensive health care treatments, often at regional facilities. The dilemma has been to figure out how to provide sustainable utilities for Alaskans that can serve the communities for decades and do so in a cost-effective and environmentally-sound manner. This presentation provides the policy background of the need to solve the problem, discusses the health risks and benefits of investment in sustainability, and evaluates the application of collaborative principles to achieve more sustainable communities.

As energy costs rise and capital budgets are under increasing pressure, innovation will be need to delivery these services. Our goal is having Alaska Natives become among the healthiest people in the world.