Warren Lecture with Srijan Aggarwal

Srijan Aggarwal
Civil, Geological, and Environmental Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks
"Water and Sanitation Infrastructure in Remote Alaska Communities: Challenges and Solutions"

ABSTRACT:  While 99.6% of Americans can mindlessly turn on a tap in their homes, more than 1 million Americans, equivalent to the country’s seventh largest city, lack access to running water. In Alaska, 4% of households overall and 20% of rural homes lack access to in-home plumbing facilities and, consequently, running water and sewer services - the highest rate in the country. The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed attention to the importance of secure water and sanitation services in protecting human health. Many remote Alaskan communities are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease transmission because of inadequate water and sanitation services. The well-being of Alaskan Indigenous communities depends on access to safe drinking water. However, water pollution has remained a reality for many of these communities due to inadequate infrastructure, as well as naturally occurring and anthropogenic pollutants. As the climate warms, environmental changes will likely exacerbate water contamination problems by releasing entombed microorganisms, ancient organic carbon, nutrients, and metals through thawing of permafrost and melting of glaciers. In addition, a number of socio-economic, physical, and infrastructure factors in these predominantly Alaska Native communities (e.g., remoteness, household overcrowding, climate change impacts, limited medical facilities, and high prevalence of chronic diseases) exacerbate the impacts of inadequate water and sanitation and contribute to the potential for more severe disease outcomes, such as due to COVID-19. Aggarwal presents results from several water related projects he is involved in that will highlight some of the water quality issues in remote and rural Alaskan communities, infrastructure challenges including high per capita energy costs for water treatment, and development of potential solutions (e.g., decentralized water systems) being pursued by the state agencies that have techno-economic feasibility in harsh Arctic climate and are also culturally sensitive and acceptable.