Climate change has introduced a substantial challenge to maintaining in-home sanitary service to communities in the Arctic. Thawing ground and permafrost has increased movement between utilities and the homes they serve. Communities and water plant operators noted the need for innovative solutions to address the way service connections are constructed. ANTHC Environmental Health and Engineering staff answered this call with an innovation called the “through wall disconnect” that allows a flexible connection at the point of in-home water and sewer ...

Two and a half years after Galena was stuck by catastrophic spring floods, the community is returning to normal with nearly all of the public facilities restored and rebuilt. ANTHC environmental health and engineering staff were a large part of the recovery effort and hope to share their lessons learned with other villages and Tribes before disaster strikes. When Galena was hit with the flood in spring 2013, it affected every aspect of life for residents of the Yukon River ...

Last week, ANTHC Tribal Utility Support Journeyman Electrician Kolt Garvey joined an emergency response team in Unalakleet to repair a wastewater lift station pump, which is used to move wastewater without costly construction. In the interim, Unalakleet operated a pumper truck to keep the lift station pumping after the station failure, but the process was labor and equipment intensive leading to greater energy and time costs for the city. ANTHC joined the emergency response led by the State of Alaska ...

When ANTHC construction crews completed work for the Koyukuk health clinic and community water treatment facility this summer, they helped make sure that the job was completed to the end. This meant assisting the city-owned landfill in a clean-up project from leftover construction materials, which helps to sustain the landfill for future use and health and safety of residents. ANTHC’s work in Koyukuk included building a gravel pad for the new community health clinic, a remodel of the water treatment ...

On Thursday, September 3, ANTHC Environmental Health and Engineering and the City of Ouzinkie held a dedication ceremony for the Kelly Larson Memorial Dam. During the ceremony, a plaque was unveiled honoring Kelly Larson, an ANTHC Senior Project Manager who passed away in 2012 and led the charge in delivering clean and reliable drinking water to the Spruce Island community. The $2.3 million project replaced a deteriorating wooden dam, constructed in 1986, with a new, state-of-the art concrete faced rock-fill ...

ANTHC was among four organizations that were recently recognized with an inaugural United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary’s Award for Healthy Homes, which recognizes excellence in healthy housing innovation. On July 13, HUD Secretary Julián Castro presented ANTHC with the award and recognized the four awardees for their work. “From reducing secondhand smoke to improving the lives of children with asthma and allergies, these organizations are leading the way in creating healthy environments for families to ...