Anchorage Daily News

Federal stimulus money will help fund running water projects for remote and rural villages in Alaska.

The Bristol Bay Times reports that about $42 million will be spent in rural Alaska, where scores of people still dump human waste in sewage lagoons or melt ice for water. The money means many Alaskans will be able to get tap water and flush toilets for the first time.

Matt Dixon of the Alaska Native Health Consortium said the large amount of money will help pay for the installation costs, which are high in the isolated and cold areas of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

"But the cool thing about the stimulus money is it's giving us a big shot in the arm so we can finish several projects and people can actually turn water on," he said.

In Chuathbaluk, a village of 100 people on the Kuskokwim River reachable only by plane or boat, residents still use buckets for toilets in the old part of town. It will receive $1.2 million to get all households flush toilets and running water.

The honeybuckets are hauled to drop-off points, but those can still foul the air some days, said Jerry Peterson, the city manager. He added that about 10 jobs will be created.

People without modern sanitation services are more likely to develop skin infections and respiratory diseases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the $42 million won't mean plumbing for every village. Some money will go to closing sewage lagoons, which can be a health hazard during floods.

In the northwest village of Buckland, the sewage lagoon is just 200 feet from houses. The village will get $3.9 million for that project, said state engineer Debra Addie.

Alaska's share of the this money is part of $90 million being allocated to update sanitation service in Indian Country, Dixon said. The problem is most prevalent in Alaska and the Navajo Nation, which reaches into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, Dixon said.

"They're a generation behind the rest of the country," Dixon said.

Buckland resident Mona Washington said she can't wait until she can flush a toilet.

"Sometimes it just gets so irritating to take out the doggone slop bucket and smelling those honeybuckets," she said.

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