The town of Newtok, Alaska, named for the vast delta grasses and the sound they make in wind, clearly hears another sound: the river. Newtok, Yup’ik for “rustling of the grass,” is located within the 19 million-acre Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, a spongy lowland dotted with rivers, sloughs, streams and lakes. Water is everywhere. When it was established in the 1940s, Newtok was well inland, located near a sweeping bend of the Ninglick River. However, over the last 40 ...

Community. Culture. Connections. In Kwethluk, Alaska, a larger-than-life painting celebrates all this and more. The colorful mural is the result of a nationwide project called Water is Life and is one of many pieces of art that have sprung up in Tribal community centers and on water storage tanks in communities in Alaska and Montana. The murals are a celebration of the importance of water in Alaska Native and American Indian traditions and history. But it is not the only ...

In 2017, there were 102 overdose deaths involving opioids throughout the state of Alaska—a rate of 13.9 per 100,000 persons. Prescription opioids (such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine) are prescribed by doctors to treat moderate to severe pain. However, they have serious risks and side effects, including dependency, addiction, overdose and accidental poisoning. In order to assist in the prevention of substance misuse and accidental poisoning, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium now provides free medicine disposal products through the iknowmine ...

ANTHC is set to begin a first-service sanitation project in Koyukuk in August of this year. Koyukuk is currently an unserved community and sanitation infrastructure has been a long time coming. Work will start with an Indian Health Service (IHS) grant of $2.5 million to construct on-site water and wastewater facilities for a dozen homes. This is the first part of a multi-phase, multi-year project that will ultimately serve the entire community with water wells, septic systems and in-home plumbing, ...

The Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC) met in Anchorage April 25-26. ARUC partners with member communities to use a strength-in-numbers approach and assists with the management, operations and maintenance of each community’s water and wastewater systems. Every year, the collaborative publishes a report sharing highlights of the previous year’s work. This year the report highlights activities such as utility assistance, water plant tours, new staff, alternative collection programs for unpaid bills, engineering updates, and various community led projects. The report ...

As the summer days grow longer, our Alaska Native people will spend more time on the water – whether it’s on boats or shores, fishing or for recreation. However, every year, water related accidents and fatalities affect our Native community. On average, 17 Alaska Native people drown each year. About half of Alaska Native drowning victims are ages 30 and under. Our Alaska Native men are six times as likely to drown than our Native women. These numbers can be ...