Alaska running water project improves community’s health

EEK, Alaska: A remote Alaska area is benefiting from a community development project that has delivered running water for the first time.

KYUK-AM reported March 21 that the community of Eek worked with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to install the new plumbing system using both federal and state funds.

The station says Eek’s 474 residents have seen improvements in their health by replacing water hauled by hand with flush toilets and clean faucet water that allows for more thorough home cleaning and frequent bathing and laundry.

The station reports that 1,699 – or 40 percent – of homes outside the city of Bethel in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskowkim Delta do not have running water.

Officials say pneumonia and respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal infections are more common in communities without running water. AP