USDA steers $27 million to Alaska villages to improve rural sanitation

Some $27 million of federal funding is on its way to Alaska communities to improve rural sanitation.

The money comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.

“These investments help to bring basic services to communities that most Americans take for granted,” said state director Jim Norlund.

The funding is a combination of grants and loans and covers water, sewer and solid waste projects, technical assistance and training, preliminary engineering and planning, and solid waste management.

The village of Eek in western Alaska, for example, is in line to receive $5.9 million for a water and sewer project. Some $6.6 million is earmarked for Unalakleet for a water source and transmission project. Saxman, in Southeast Alaska, will receive $3.2 million for a wastewater project.

“Many of these communities are located in rural areas of persistent poverty that USDA has targeted for special assistance,” Norlund said.

About 30 villages in Alaska lack indoor plumbing, according to Bill Griffith, facilities program manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. That’s down from 41 in 2012.

Installing a village-wide water and sewer system is very expensive to construct and maintain. DEC is starting to look at alternatives for providing individual plumbing on a house-by-house basis in some communities, especially ones where there is no fresh ground water or nowhere to build a treatment plant or sewage lagoon, he said.

The state is required to match a portion of the $27 million in federal funding announced on Tuesday. The state match amounts to $9 million, according to Griffith.