Alaska DEC challenge: rethink water and sewer.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

More than 3,300 homes in rural Alaska still lack running water and a flush toilet, according to the state of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Many more rely on deteriorating piping systems or hauled water services.

The cost of installing community-wide systems, like a public sewer system or piped water system, is more than many rural communities can afford. Although these have typically been the type of system funded in the past, some communities are finding it difficult to strike a balance between reasonable rates and bringing in enough funding to maintain the water or wastewater system.

According to the state, there's a $660 million gulf between what rural Alaska communities need for water and wastewater infrastructure and the amount of money available. That gap continues to widen.

Recognizing these trends, the state launched an effort to "develop innovative and cost effective water and sewer systems for homes in remote Alaska villages," according to DEC's Alaska Water and Sewer Challenge website (watersewerchallenge.alaska.gov).

The goal is to reduce overhead costs for in-home water and sewer systems in rural Alaska. The solutions may well be applicable in other areas that face hurdles to community water and sewer systems, organizers say, including in more urban areas of the state.

"Many areas outside rural Alaska still don't have complete plumbing," says Bill Griffith, facility programs manager for DEC. "And a lot of people have cabins and seasonal, recreational type homes and a lot of those don't have running water and sewer."

"In Alaska alone, there are over 18,000 homes that would benefit immediately from such an approach. In addition, there are approximately 221,000 rural homes in the US [excluding Alaska], which are occupied year round and lack complete plumbing," the DEC website states. "In other northern countries, such as Canada, Russia, and Mongolia, there are at least 1.7 million homes that could potentially benefit from the novel approaches being pursued by this project."

Current Approach Untenable

The challenge got its start in 2013 with a worldwide solicitation of project teams. It was kind of a last-ditch effort, Griffith says.

"We've got about thirty communities [without community water and sewer systems] out there, and most of those 3,300 unserved homes are in those thirty communities. At a certain point it looked like we were going to have to just give up [funding new sewer and water systems],"...