ANTHC Environmental Health and Engineering employees present at national One Water Summit in Minnesota
August 13, 2018
ANTHC Environmental Health and Engineering employees James Temte and John Nichols were invited arts and culture delegates at the One Water Summit in Minnesota in July, where the two presented on the National Tribal Water Center (NTWC) housed at ANTHC. The summit, attended by more than 900 people from across the U.S., included utility personnel from major cities, federal government officials and Tribal organizations. It focused on finding solutions to make water and sewer service available, reliable and affordable in all communities.
During their NTWC presentation – held at the summit venue’s water bar where attendees could sample different tap water from around the country – Temte and Nichols explained how the NTWC protects water culture, preserves water resources and prepares future generations to manage vital water systems. NTWC’s Water is Life projects (week-long, community-wide projects designed to encourage discussing and thinking about local water utilities), have been completed in Tribal communities across the country, including here in Alaska in Deering and Russian Mission.
Audience members learned how the Water is Life project connected community leaders, schoolchildren, water plant operators and local artists by giving them the common focus of creating a mural representing what water means to them. These projects have resulted in improved community support, more paying customers, improved water and sewer finances in each community, and reduced customer rates in Russian Mission. More than 80 activists, artists and visionaries from a cross-section of communities — not just politicians and engineers — engaged with the presenters, asking questions about community-member recruitment for Water is Life. Since attendees often found they face similar challenges — stricter government regulations, aging water and sewer systems, climate change and a graying workforce — conference attendees saw the Water is Life project as an avenue for effectively encouraging community leaders, culture-bearers and community members to support a community’s water system.
Learn more about the National Tribal Water Center at http://tribalwater.org/.