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Environmental Health and Engineering
Rural Utility Support
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Helping you build local capacity, improve affordability, and ensure sustainability.
Utility systems and services throughout Alaska may experience challenges with affordability and local capacity to self-manage, operate, and maintain their systems.
The Department of Rural Utility Management Services (DRUMS) assists communities in creating self-supporting systems that run efficiently and effectively. From assisted billing to technical implementation to helping you upgrade your systems to become more sustainable and efficient, our program is here to support all aspects of your community’s utilities efforts.
Services and Programs:
Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC)
The Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC) is a statewide program that partners with communities to manage, operate and maintain water and sewer systems in rural Alaska. We empower communities to sustainably provide safe water and sanitation services through our two types of ARUC membership: the Assisted Billing Program and the full ARUC membership program. Read below for further details.
Full ARUC Membership
Many communities subsidize their water and sewer system from a community general fund but what if they didn’t have to? What if those funds could be allocated elsewhere? ARUC makes those what-if’s a reality by working with community partners to set self-supporting water and sewer rates and consistently bill customers so that subsidization via the general fund is unnecessary.
Full ARUC Membership also provides management and operations of the water and sewer systems. We will assist your community in hiring local water plant operators and backup operators to ensure systems are running smoothly and with critical redundancies to ensure consistent services are available.
ARUC Full Member Communities:
- Ambler
- Chevak
- Chignik Lake
- Deering
- Golovin
- Goodnews Bay
- Holy Cross
- Hooper Bay
- Kiana
- Kobuk
- Kotlik
- Lower Kalskag
- New Stuyahok
- Newhalen
- Noorvik
- Pitka’s Point
- Quinhagak
- Russian Mission
- St. Michael
- Savoonga
- Scammon Bay
- Shungnak
- Sleetmute
- South Naknek
- Toksook Bay
- Tyonek
- Upper Kalskag
ARUC Advisory Committee
The ARUC Advisory Committee serves as the liaison between ARUC and the participating communities, providing advice and recommendations to both ANTHC and participating communities. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to:
- Promote functional, safe and well-maintained sanitation facilities for participating communities
- Promote greater community and regional involvement in ARUC programs and activities
- Promote fair and equitable representation of utility customers
- Support the development of comprehensive plans to assist participating communities in assuming responsibility for sustainable utility operation and annual generation of revenue to cover necessary community expenses
- Annually review and set financial, rate and policy recommendations for ARUC’s budget and individual budgets for participating communities based on the level of service provided
- Facilitate communications between the ARUC and participating communities
- Promote sustainability and community and customer involvement in ARUC communities
Resources, Publications, and News
Resources:
- Community Spreadsheet – ARUC Manager List
- Commercial Water and Wastewater Service Agreement
- Customer Labor/Parts Request Form
- Metered Commercial Water and Wastewater Service Agreement
- Residential Utility Service Agreement
- ARUC Credit Card Auto Payment Form
- Service Change Form Account Closure
View more ARUC resources here.
Publications and News:
Rural Energy Program
The act of providing water and sewer services to a community comprises nearly one-third of the energy used by that community as a whole. The costs of these operations are substantial and are passed down to community members through their monthly utility bills.
Let us help you find ways to lower operating costs and improve your community’s energy sustainability by finding alternative energy sources and innovative solutions.
Rural Energy's Work Includes...
- Operator training to reduce energy usage and improve operations.
- Energy audits of water treatment plants, public buildings and health clinics to analyze energy use and determine potential improvement projects for maximum energy savings.
- Energy efficiency upgrades to realize savings, such as boiler maintenance and tuning, LED lighting and building weatherization.
- Renewable energy projects to reduce dependence on imported fuel for heating and electricity needs. We design and construct projects such as biomass boilers, heat recovery systems, wind, solar and hydro projects, and ground and air source heat pumps.
- Remote monitoring to catch problems early and prevent potentially catastrophic failures and costly water treatment plant repairs. Remote monitoring uses small wireless devices in key locations to keep tabs on system temperatures, flow rates, water levels and pressure.
Renewable Energy Projects
In many communities across Alaska, renewable energy projects are reducing the use of diesel fuel, which makes the cost of clean water and sanitation facilities more affordable and sustainable. Examples of ANTHC sustainable energy projects include:
Solar:
From sunshine to savings, solar arrays offset the cost of water pumping, treatment processes and facility lighting. Solar project installations can provide up to 40 percent of a water system’s required power without disrupting the local electric grid.
Heat Recovery:
A heat recovery system captures the heat produced by diesel-powered generators at an electric plant and transfers it to the local water treatment plant, which replaces the amount of fuel oil needed to heat the facility. In some cases, heat recovery projects meet 100 percent of the water system’s heating demand.
Geothermal Energy Technology:
The constant temperature of subsurface earth matter is a renewable energy source that can be harnessed by ground source heat pumps. These pumps employ a geothermal loop that extracts heat from the earth and transfers it to a facility’s heating system.
Hydroelectric:
Renewable and sustainable, hydroelectric power harnesses the movement of water and converts it to electricity. Water systems often share infrastructure with hydroelectric facilities, a practice that reduces capital costs associated with both sanitation and power infrastructures, benefitting the entire community.
Wind to Heat:
Harvesting the power of the wind provides a clean, renewable energy source. Water treatment plants use off-peak power from wind turbines to offset heating expenses. Wind energy costs about $0.05 per kilowatt hour, or the equivalent of a $1.46 gallon of fuel oil, compared to the typical fuel oil prices in rural communities that can be as high as $6-$10 per gallon.
Biomass:
When carefully managed, wood is a sustainable natural resource for heat. Biomass boilers are wood-fired, replacing traditional fuel oil for heating a community’s water system and public facilities. The boilers run on cordwood, wood pellets, or wood chips. Using locally harvested wood reduces energy costs, creates jobs for biomass boiler operators and wood harvesters, and keeping more money in the local economy. Watch how Ambler, Alaska moved to biomass.
Remote Monitoring
Throughout Alaska’s rural communities, remote monitoring systems are helping to protect water treatment plants. These small, but mighty, wireless monitors provide early detection of potential problems by monitoring temperatures, flow rates, water level, and pressure. This data allows local operators and technicians outside the community to identify issues such as freeze-ups and water leaks earlier, as well as track performance for future energy audits and retrofits. Catching problems early can prevent catastrophic failures and costly repairs to water treatment plants.
How does it work? Battery-powered wireless sensors communicate with a gateway router that sends data and alerts to devices, such as laptops and cell phones. This data can also be accessed, at any time, through the remote monitoring website at www.anthc.bmon.org.
Bethel and Kotzebue are two prime examples of Alaska communities that use remote monitoring at their water treatment plants. Watch remote maintenance workers discuss these systems and why remote monitoring is an invaluable safeguard in their communities here.
Remote monitoring is available for any type or size of water treatment plant. The staff at ANTHC are here to design a remote monitoring system for your community’s water plant needs and specifications. For additional information and to discuss possible funding sources please contact the Rural Energy Program at 907-729-5688 or energy@anthc.org.
Energy Reports and Audits Archive
Energy audits reveal ways a community can improve energy efficiency, such as installing LED lighting and weather-proofing buildings. Audits may also suggest ways of increasing sustainability by making major modifications such as installing solar or heat recovery systems.
View all past energy audit reports here.
Assisted Billing
Assisted Billing collects funds on your community’s behalf, minus a monthly service fee, which are electronically transferred to your community to operate your water and wastewater and/or electric utility system.
Assisted Billing generates invoices, collects and records customer payments and shares customer account information with your community. If you elect to do so, we will also include delinquent and shut off lists of non-paying customers.
If requested, Assisted Billing can help perform a rate study and recommend rates for your community.
While billing assistance does not solve best practice scores it can improve the revenue and budget scoring sections of a community’s score.
Payment Information
Customer payment options include:
- Paying in person at the Anchorage office
- Online bill pay
- Over-the-phone credit card payments (Monday-Friday, 9-5 p.m.)
- PFD assignments
- Auto-pay with a signed agreement
What our monthly fee goes to and how it’s calculated:
Assisted Billing charges a monthly service fee to cover billing staff labor, postage, envelopes, software, etc. based on the number of homes in the community. This way, each community pays only its share of the expenses associated with the billing service.
Assisted Billing Membership
A 30-day commitment between ANTHC and your community gains membership in the Assisted Billing program.
Membership may lead to full ARUC membership if your community would like and is eligible to do so. Communities must be members of Assisted Billing for a minimum of one year and demonstrate the ability to become financially self-supporting to join the full ARUC membership.
Alaska Utility Supply Center
Ordering made easier and less expensive.
When you order water and wastewater system parts and pieces from across the country, you are at the mercy of different manufacturers and shippers. We’ve created a more efficient and less costly process so you can be more hands-off with your ordering and more hands-on with your project. For over 20 years, our goal has been to provide stellar service to over 150 communities across the state so they can continue providing exceptional service to their residents.
Contact
P: 907-729-3525
Toll free: 1-866-800-2872
randerson@anthc.org
Why join the Alaska Utility Supply Center?
When you need parts and pieces to support your systems, you don’t want to have to go through multiple vendors. Instead, AUSC streamlines the process so you only order from one plan for all the parts you need.. Browse our product catalog and call to place your order. We are conveniently located in Anchorage, which helps us to quickly deliver our services to rural Alaska.
How can I find out more about the Alaska Utility Supply Center?
For more information about AUSC, a catalog, or a membership application, please contact us at 1-866-800-AUSC (2872).
AUSC works solely with rural communities and Alaska Native organizations (borough, Health Corporation, utility, school, or clinic) with a 51% or more Alaska Native population.
Product Catalog
Tribal Utility Support
Efficient systems provide the best output. Let us help get you running as smoothly as possible.
TUS supports communities and their systems through providing training and technical support, plant visits, equipment supply and maintenance and assistance with small project implementation like weatherization, upgrades and retrofits.
Contact
P: 907-729-3600
F: 907-729-4506
TUS-support@anthc.org
4500 Diplomacy Dr.,
Suite 130
Anchorage, AK 99508
Operator Training
Our statewide program trains your community’s utility system operators via in-person, hands-on training with experienced instructors. We also provide operation and management manuals and project call-back support.
You can find our scheduled operator training at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Training Calendar.
Project Support
TUS supports your community by providing water treatment system analysis, design and construction plan reviews, pre-final inspections, operation and management manuals and construction skills training.
Community Technical Assistance and Emergency Response
TUS’s experienced staff is often called upon to assist operators with difficult repairs and to help troubleshoot operation and management problems. While uninterrupted service is always our primary goal, TUS also provides emergency assistance to water and sewer systems. In an emergency, the operator should first contact their Remote Maintenance Worker (RMW). If unable to assist, RMW’s will contact TUS for additional support.
Additional Resources:
Remote Monitoring
The TUS program installs remote monitoring systems for water treatment plants to monitor the following:
- System temperatures
- Pressure
- Flow rates
- Fuel burn rates
- Vacuum sewer operations
- Push notifications of alarm conditions
- Data storage to prevent catastrophic failures and enhance remote support and troubleshooting.
Data collected from remote monitoring systems can also be used for future energy optimizations. For more information, please visit: anthc.bmon.org/map/
Do you have an energy technical assistance request?
The link below will send you to the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Indian Energy’s webpage. Requests for assistance are routed to ANTHC.