Financing Water and Sewer Operation and Maintenance in Rural Alaska

Abstract

Are existing sanitation systems simply too expensive for many Alaska villages? Or could small utilities operate in the black if they increased their charges and toughened collection policies? How much difference do village leadership and commitment to good sanitation make? Could alternative technologies provide adequate sanitation for less? To help shed some light on these questions, the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage prepared this volume. It presents seven recent analyses, by various authors, of some aspects of financing water and sewer operations and maintenance in rural Alaska. We added an introductory chapter, a final chapter drawing some conclusions from the various analyses and discussing policy issues, and an executive summary. The analyses look at methods villages use to pay for O&M; the share of small sanitation systems operating in the red; the costs of selected closed-haul systems (one alternative to piped systems); the fiscal capacity of small rural communities; and steps that might help small sanitation systems meet their costs. These studies are not comprehensive, and in some cases they raise as many questions as they answer. But they provide valuable information on a public policy issue Alaska will continue to grapple with for the foreseeable future.