Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, 4500 Diplomacy Drive, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA.
Civil Engineering Department, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Nov;25(33):32873-32880. doi: 10.1007/s11356-017-8815-x. Epub 2017 Mar 29.
Forty-two communities in rural Alaska are considered unserved or underserved with water and sewer infrastructure. Many challenges exist to provide centralized piped water and sewer infrastructure to the homes, and they are exacerbated by decreasing capital funding. Unserved communities in rural Alaska experience higher rates of disease, supporting the recommendation that sanitation infrastructure should be provided. Organizations are pursuing alternative solutions to conventional piped water and sewer in order to maximize water use and reuse for public health. This paper reviews initiatives led by the State of Alaska, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation to identify and develop potential long-term solutions appropriate and acceptable to rural communities. Future developments will likely evolve based on the lessons learned from the initiatives. Recommendations include Alaska-specific research needs, increased end-user participation in the design process, and integrated monitoring, evaluation, and information dissemination in future efforts.
阿拉斯加农村有 42 个社区被认为没有供水和污水处理基础设施或供水和污水处理基础设施不足。为家庭提供集中式管道供水和污水处理基础设施存在许多挑战，而资本资金的减少使这些挑战更加严重。阿拉斯加农村未服务的社区疾病发病率更高，这支持了提供卫生基础设施的建议。为了最大限度地提高公共卫生用水的使用和再利用，一些组织正在寻求替代传统的管道供水和污水处理的解决方案。本文回顾了由阿拉斯加州、阿拉斯加原住民部落卫生联合会和育空-科尤库克卫生公司牵头的各项举措，以确定和制定适合农村社区并为其接受的潜在长期解决方案。未来的发展可能会根据这些举措的经验教训而演变。建议包括阿拉斯加特定的研究需求、增加最终用户在设计过程中的参与度，以及在未来的工作中进行综合监测、评估和信息传播。
