social rod Economic iimicfliions
OF THE
RLflSHR VILLAGE OEMSTRRTIORS PROJECTS
U. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
ARCTIC ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
COLLEGE, ALASKA 99701
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SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
OF THE
ALASKA VILLAGE DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
by
Bertold Puchtler
Working Paper No. 20
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
ARCTIC ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
COLLEGE, ALASKA
Associate Laboratory of
National Environmental Research Laboratory
Corvallis, Oregon
Office of Research and Development
October 1973
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ABSTRACT
A Congressional mandate calls upon the Environmental Protection Agency
to demonstrate methods of providing Alaska Native Villages with basic util-
ity services. The systems envisioned are to provide safe water, disposal
of waste, and community facilities for laundering and bathing. Facilities
have been constructed in the villages of Emmonak and Wainwright. These
communities were chosen on the recommendation of regional native leaders
and on the basis of their social and economic viability. The need for ser-
vices of the type envisioned has been well documented. The health and en-
vironmental benefits of the project are readily apparent.
An examination of village incomes, of estimated facility operating
costs and of local attitudes and feelings, leads to the conclusion that in-
stitutional and support mechanisms not yet authorized are required to assure
long-term beneficial operation of such installations. Facility operating
costs are considered to be greater than the communities can reasonably be
expected to bear. Outside assistance will be needed. Because the villagers
value their sense of self-reliance highly, the manner in which financial as-
sistance is provided will be critical to the integrity of the individuals
involved and to the continued well-functioning of the two communities.
Every effort should be made to circumvent the common route by which house-
holds and individuals become further dependent on welfare.
To be truly beneficial, investments in social services should be accom-
panied by commensurate investments in economic development at the local
level. Additional investigations and consultation with legislative bodies,
leading to recommendations for the adoption of specific institutional ar-
rangements, are indicated.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction 1
The Project Communities 3
The Enabling Legislation 7
Income and Operating Costs 8
Welfare Implications 20
Institutional Considerations 23
Notes 28
References 33
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iii
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
1 Estimated Personal Income - Emmonak 1971 9
2 Estimated Personal Income - Wainwright 1971" 10
3 Best Current Estimate of Facility O&M Cost - Emmonak 11
4 Best Current Estimate of Facility O&M Cost - Wainwright 12
5 Approximate Cost of "Facility Equivalent" Services
to Households in the Anchorage Area 13
6 Proportion of Per Capita Income Required to Meet
Facility O&M Cost 16
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iv
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
1 Comparison of Per Capita Incomes 17
2 Comparison of Per Capita Service Costs 18
3 Proportion of Per Capita Income Required to Meet
Service Costs 19
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1
INTRODUCTION
It is the nature of human endeavors that they address themselves to
relatively specific problems and that their effects are evaluated within
a proportionately narrow realm. Development projects implemented by public
service agencies are no exception J
We know that projects of this type tend to have results beyond their
immediate aims. Such unintended side effects can be positive or negative,
2
and their significance varies. Seldom are they fully predictable. Often
they remain unrecognized until processes have become institutionalized and
3
gained irreversible momentum.
The manner in which public policies and projects affect the cultural
realm is especially significant when a dominant society addresses itself to
cultural minorities. (Mead 1955 and Spicer 1952). In that case, the re-
sponsibility weighs especially heavy with the sponsor in that client groups
4
are passive partners by definition. Successful acculturation is at stake,
a process during which the fabric of social organization is highly vulnerable
and fragile. Instances where well-intended assistance programs clearly con-
tributed to community disorganization and to the emergence of psychiatric
5
problems are well documented. Major efforts appear justified in avoiding
consequences of this kind.
The Alaska Village Demonstration Project (AVDP)^ has as its immediate
concern the improvement of physical health among Alaska natives. This is
to be accomplished through construction of two prototype installations which
demonstrate methods of providing an adequate water supply, satisfactory
waste disposal, and community facilities for laundering and bathing in vil-
lages. The need for such services is clearly established and the environmental
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and health benefits would be considerable. A combination of legislative,
administrative and local economic limitations, however, give the venture
the potential for undesirable economic and social side effects which could
outweigh the attainment of the initial objective. The purpose of this
paper is to explore these and to suggest how they might be avoided.
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3
THE PROJECT COMMUNITIES
Emmonak is a recently established community of Eskimo salmon fishermen
who settled at the present location only during the last 25 years. They
moved here because the site offers convenient access to good fishing and
tends to be less subject to flooding than other portions of the Yukon Delta.
The initial settlers came from Kwiguk, a now-abandoned village some miles
upstream. Others moved from "camps" and villages in the general area. Today's
year-round population is 440, counting village youths attending school else-
where in Alaska or "outside". During the fishing season from June through
August, the population is said to swell to nearly double its normal size,
with visitors squeezing in with relatives or partners, or living in tents.
Emmonak became a focal community, in part, because the Northern Commer-
cial Company established a large store there. Since 1968, the emergence of
an Office of Economic Opportunity sponsored, locally managed fishing co-
operative at Emmonak assumed significance. A highly successful season in
1971 established the Co-op among the prime productive enterprises in the
area.
The type of skilled, aggressive management displayed in running the
Co-op has also manifested itself in other spheres of village and regional
affairs. In 1970 an Emmonak candidate was elected to the State House. At
the same time the City Council was able to generate regional native and
general public support to have Emmonak chosen as a site for a community
center financed by the Economic Development Administration and a water sup-
ply and waste disposal complex under the AVDP.
Since 1964, Emmonak has done business with the outside world as a
fourth class city. The town has experienced rapid growth. Despite a
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declining birth-rate, there is reason to expect this growth to continue,
largely through additional inmigration. Although the population is very
poor by all standards, cash income among Emmonak natives appears to be
higher than in the neighboring villages.^ The influx of summer visitors
who participate in the fish harvest and in co-op processing indicates that
Emmonak offers attractions and opportunities which other communities lack.
Visiting natives may sense that in Emmonak there is a chance of doing busi-
ness the white man's way on home grounds, without having to live in places
where whites control affairs, as in Kotzebue, Bethel or Nome. It would seem
that an improved public utilities system and better housing will further en-
hance Emmonak's attractiveness.
Wainwright is older and came into existence more by accident than Emmonak.
Choice of village site appears to have been dictated by conditions of the sea
ice and need for a good landing site, when materials for the construction of
a school were delivered by boat in 1904 (Milan 1964). Eskimos living in the
general area then began to cluster around it over the course of time.
Whereas significant contact between whites and the natives of the lower
Yukon came about only recently, for the Eskimos on the North Slope it dates
back to the mid-19th Century when ships began to ply the Arctic Ocean in
search of whales and of settlements along the coast to spend winters. Few
white women accompanied these expeditions. The men who chose to stay with
the Eskimos for any length of time generally found it practical to marry
Eskimo women and to adopt local ways, rather than attempt to establish ex-
clusive white communities in superimposition. Except for the decimating
epidemics these whalers introduced, one gets the impression that during
the early days, North Slope Eskimos remained very much in control over what
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aspects of the alien culture to absorb or to reject. Over the years, this
casual contact resulted in considerable genetic inter-mixing, adoption of
an apparently preferred Christian religion and of technology which much
improved the men's efficiency as hunters. The result was to reinforce a
traditionally strong sense of achievement and independence.
The situation is changing, however. Most of the villagers in Wainwright
still attempt to meet the bulk of their families' needs through hunting.
They try to obtain small amounts of inevitably essential cash through sea-
sonal employment as technicians, tradesmen or laborers on construction jobs
away from the village. When these are unavailable, they reluctantly apply
for welfare. Older adults indicate preference for limiting their desires
and needs so as not to become too dependent.®
Unlike the fishing enterprise in Emmonak, at Wainwright opportunities
of converting natural resources into cash earnings are more limited. Al-
though the land surrounding Wainwright holds known oil reserves, these
have been withdrawn for exclusive exploitation by the Navy, and remain in-
accessible to Wainwright despite the recent Land Claims Settlement. The
Land Claims Legislation excludes this vast area, known as Petroleum Reserve
#4, from land selection by the State or the natives.
Young people who return to Wainwright after having been away to school
feel ambivalent about the way their parents make their living. The young
men arrive, self-conscious and embarrassed for their lack of skills as
hunters. And among the girls, most come back to Wainwright only to make
up their minds to pursue prospects of a life more in keeping with expecta-
tions created at school, by seeking marriage elsewhere.
Although communities along the Arctic Coast have historically tended
9
to be somewhat short on women, in Wainwright out-migration of females has
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led to an imbalance which keeps more men single than would like to be. The
Wainwright adult population currently consists of 86 men and 54 women, age
20 and over. Among the men, 36 are bachelors. Only 6 of the women above
age 20 are unmarried. The eight widowers and six widows in the village are
all over age 55.
The future of Wainwright will partly depend on stemming this exodus
of women or in attracting marriage partners from other communities. Im-
provements in utility services and better housing may favorably affect
such a trend. However, these improvements will also create demands for
more financial resources. In the long run, ecomomic viability of the com-
munity would seem to require assistance in generating economic enterprise.
Provisions that would allow Wainwright more direct benefits from local min-
eral resources would be a natural route.
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7
THE ENABLING LEGISLATION
The enabling legislation for the demonstration projects outlines the
type of facilities to be provided; mentions that their installation is to
be accompanied by educational and informational programs; and requires re-
commendations for the purpose of developing a state-wide plan. The legis-
lation remains mute in regard to ownership of the facilities and makes no
mention of how operation and maintenance (O&M) responsibilities are to be
borne once the facilities have been installed in the village. This con-
stitutes a major problem that must be resolved. Depending on how it is
resolved, the demonstration holds the potential of harming as well as bene-
fiting the village.
The Environmental Protection Agency will be expected to operate the
demonstration facilities for an initial period until sufficient data re-
quired for a comprehensive report to Congress has been generated. Beyond
that, the future of the facilities is theoretically in limbo. Under such
circumstances, administrative expediency dictates that facility ownership
be transferred to the communities at the earliest possible date. And with
ownership, of course, the villages would assume responsibilities for contin-
ued operation.
Eager to insure their communities the benefits of the facilities, and
perhaps even more eager to demonstrate good will and responsible manner, the
city councils of Emmonak and Wainwright will probably accept ownership when-
ever it is offered. Unfortunately, they can ill afford it.
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INCOME AND OPERATING COSTS
To assess the economic impact of the demonstration facilities, esti-
mates of personal income in the two villages and estimates of facility
operating and maintenance costs were prepared. The following represents
a comparison of these with personal income and cost of similar service in
the Anchorage area.
Tables 1 through 4 contain summaries of estimated cash incomes and
of estimated facility operating costs in Emmonak and Wainwright. Table 5
shows costs of similar services in Anchorage. At the time of this study,
the most recent income data available for the Anchorage Census District
applied to CY-1969, and at that time was $4,094 per person. (Bureau of the
Census 1971, Table 135). Conservatively assuming that between 1969 and
1971, income increased at the same rate it grew during the previous two
years, we have a 1971 per capita figure of $5,210 for the Anchorage area.10
Cash available in the two project villages comes to less than one-fourth
this amount.
Differences in the urban and rural economies require that village in-
comes be rendered more fully comparable with income in Anchorage through
adjustment for the differences in thei cost of things at each location and
for the value of proceeds from subsistence hunting and fishing.
There are no cost of living indices for the villages. For purpose
of this exercise they must be inferred.11 Assuming the purchasing power
of money in Emmonak and Wainwright is approximately equivalent to that in
Bethel, though perhaps lower, and using the September 1971 index for food
prices (Seattle 100; Anchorage 124; Bethel 195; see Tussing and Thomas 1971:
26, Table 6), we arrive at per capita cash incomes, adjusted to Anchorage
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TABLE 1
ESTIMATED PERSONAL INCOME - EMMONAK 1971
Earned Income
From steady employment not directly
associated with the fishing indus-
try, full time and part time (a). $189,100
From fish sales, fish processing and
fishing industry management 176,700
From self-employment & business 50,000
From unpredictable, occasional work 49,100
Earned Benefits
Social Security, Pensions 16,400
Unemployment Insurance Benefits 6,400
Social Welfare Benefits
State Categorical Assistance 55,900
Food Stamps 29,830
BIA General Assistance 2,000
TOTAL INCOME
Cash income, per capita (425 persons) $1,312 per year
Cash income, per household (76 households) $7,335 per year
$446,900
22,800
87,730
$557,430
(a). Salaries of non-native BIA teachers not included.
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TABLE 2
ESTIMATED PERSONAL INCOME - WAINWRIGHT 1971
Earned Income $267,128
From "steady employment" (a). $177,988
From hunting & trapping. 19,140
From self-employment & business 36,000
From unpredictable, occasional work 34,000
Earned Benefits 34,968
Social Security 18,000
Unemployment Insurance Benefits 16,968
Social Welfare Benefits 92,388
State Categorical Assistance 57,348
Food Stamps 11,604
BIA General Assistance 23,436
TOTAL INCOME $394,484
Income, per capita (340 persons) $1,160
Income, per household (52 households) $7,586
(a). Salaries of non-native BIA teachers not included.
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TABLE 3
BEST CURRENT ESTIMATE OF FACILITY O&M COST* - EMMONAK
Item Annual Cost
Fuel, 10,000 gallons 4Otf per gallon $ 4,000
Electricity, 140,000 KWH 0 9
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TABLE 4
BEST CURRENT ESTIMATE OF FACILITY O&M COST* - WAINWRIGHT
Item Annual Cost
Fuel: $32.55 per day $11,881
Electricity 100,000 KWH @ 10# 10,000
Chemicals: $10.00 per day 3,650
Shipping 2,500
Vehicle Fuel and O&M** 1,000
Fuel for Intake Pump ?
Operators, 2 men @ $9,000 per year 18,000
Drivers, 2 men @ $5,000 per year 10,000
TOTAL $57,031
Cost per average Wainwright household of 6.54 persons $ 1,097
Cost per capita {340 persons) $ 168
*Based upon information available in March 1972. Figures do not include
allowances for depreciation of the facility and the equipment itself.
**Type of vehicles to be used uncertain. May require upward adjustment
to as much as $4,000-$6,000.
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TABLE 5
APPROXIMATE COST OF "FACILITY EQUIVALENT" SERVICES
TO HOUSEHOLDS IN THE ANCHORAGE AREA^
Item
In City
Outside
City
Average
1. Utility Charges, sewer
2. Utility Charges, water
3. Utility Charges, garbage removal
4. Electricity for Water Heater - 350 KWH/mos C3)
5. Electricity for Washing Machine - 3 KWH/mos
6. Electricity for Electric Dryer - 50 KWH/mos
403 KWH/mos = 50 KWH @5.5*
200 KWH @ 3t
153 KWH @ 1.2*
$5.00
7.50
3.75
$5.00
9.00
5.00
Total
Household Monthly Total
Household Annual Total
Annual Per Capita Cost
(c)
$5.00
8.24
4.37
$10.59
$ 28.21
$338.52
$ 84.63
The Bureau of Labor Statistics computed that in 1969 a 4-person Anchorage family, living in their own
home, on an intermediate standard family budget of $15,210 paid $154 annually for water, sewage, refuse
disposal and replacement rate for equipment such as refrigerator, range and space heater. (Tussing and
Thomas, 1971, Table 4, p. 6, and Table 13, p. 15). This figure is considered too low. $338.50, as
computed above looks more acceptable for purposes of the comparisons attempted in this paper.
(b)Families using oil or gas fired hot water heaters would probably pay less.
^Assuming standard 4-person household.
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purchasing equivalence, as follows:
Anchorage - $5,210
Emmonak - $ 834
Wainwright - $ 738
To these must now be added proceeds from subsistence hunting and fish-
12
ing. Again, values can only be approximated. In Emmonak game is scarce
and fishing has been commercialized to the point where most fish caught dur-
ing the salmon season are sold. Investments in boats, kickers, nets, snow-
mobiles and gasoline may well cancel subsistence gains in this case. An
arbitrary amount of $200 per person is included to cover the net value of
fish and small game that might be consumed. (At a price of 50 cents per
pound, this would amount to 400 lbs. of fish per person per year, and is
probably a liberal figure.) This would bring total adjusted per capita in-
come at Emmonak to $1,034.
In Wainwright the situation is somewhat different. Although cash in-
come here is lower than in Emmonak and per capita facility operating cost
is estimated to be substantially higher, cash requirements for food are de-
cidedly lower. Unlike in Emmonak, subsistence hunting is still very impor-
tant in Wainwright and the proceeds tend to balance the negative effect of
the other two factors.
An investigation of the subsistence economy at Point Hope, conducted
in 1958-59, concluded that four-fifths of the village food supply is obtained
from subsistence sources, and only one-fifth consists of store-bought items
(Foote and Williamson 1966:1074). Conditions at Wainwright are comparable.
Assuming a cash equivalent value for caribou, sea mammals, and fish consumed
13
by Wainwrighters at $550 per person, per capita income would adjust upward
to $1,288.
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Table 6 compares adjusted incomes and analyzes proportions of the var-
ious incomes required to meet service costs. Figures 1-3 provide graphic
comparison of this data. It appears that, in absolute terms, facility oper-
ating costs at Emmonak and Wainwright will exceed costs of similar service
in Anchorage by 42 percent and 98 percent respectively. This cost differ-
ence is not unreasonable in that price levels at both villages are much higher
than in Anchorage. If we consider that more stringent climatic and very dif-
ficult geologic conditions require application of relatively expensive methods
of water and waste treatment, and that, in addition, diseconomy of scale in
the villages contributes to high operation and maintenance costs, then the
proposed facilities are efficiently designed.
Per capita income in the Anchorage area, however, exceeds the average
adjusted income in Wainwright and Emmonak by 450 percent.^ In relative
terms, therefore, Emmonak and Wainwright residents would pay five to six
times the portion of total income paid by Anchorage area residents. It ap-
pears unreasonable, and may turn out to be impossible in practice, for vil-
lagers to pay such a high proportion of their low income for the services to
15
be provided. During the foreseeable future, thus, a substantial portion
of the operating and maintenance costs will have to be met from sources
outside the villages.
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TABLE 6
PROPORTION OF PER CAPITA INCOME REQUIRED
TO MEET FACILITY O&M COSTS
Location
O&M Costs
Cash
Income
Cash Income Plus
Est. Proceeds From
Subsistence Economy
Cash Income Adjusted
To Anchorage Purchas-
ing Equivalence Plus
Est. Proceeds From
Subsistence Economy
Resource
% Towards
Facility
Operating
Cost
Resource
% Towards
Facility
Operating
Cost
Anchorage
$5,210
Reference*
$ 85
$5,210
1.6%
$5,210
1.6%
Emmonak
$121
$1,312
9.2%
$1 ,512
8.0%
$1,034
Wainwright
$168
$1,160
14.5%
$1 ,710
9.8%
$1,288
*See Table 5 and Footnotes 12 and 13.
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$6000
$5000
$4000
$3000
$2000
$1000
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COMPARISON OF ANNUAL PER CAPITA
SERVICE COSTS
$200
$150
$100
$50
O
JO
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PROPORTION OF PER CAPITA INCOME REQUIRED
TO MEET SERVICE COSTS
15%
10%
5%
0
in i in n
.V.V.V.Vj.
mm
tx::-::-:-:
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•s
Proportion of
Cash Income
mim
I'.wIwW
Ml
Qo
v.w.v.v
Proportion of Cosh
Income plus estimated
proceeds from sub-
sistence Economy.
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WELFARE IMPLICATIONS
Until such time as the villages can fully afford to pay for the oper-
ation of the utility facilities envisioned, the manner in which operating
assistance is provided will be critical to the integrity of the individuals
involved and to the continued well-functioning of the two communities.
Currently, the people at Wainwright and Eminonak still have an image of
themselves as being largely self-sufficient. Unlike many native communities
in Alaska and Northern Canada today, Emmonak and Wainwright, though not al-
together without social problems, possess something one might best call elan.
Observers gather the impression that the people are proud of their accomplish-
ments in facing the challenge of living in the North. In part, this feeling
comes from the knowledge of successfully having resisted the insidious odds
of becoming too dependent on welfare.
In Emmonak as of 1971, only 15 percent of personal cash income was un-
earned. At Wainwright, a community traditionally highly self-sufficient,
the figure shot up to 23 percent during that year. Initially this was be-
cause the BIA supply ship failed to discharge cargo there in 1970. That win-
ter the Wainwright Council, for the first time, applied for a substantial
sum from the BIA General Assistance Fund, in full expectation that this help
would be a one-time deal. Unfortunately, the 1971-72 Alaska State Housing
Program, which requires prospective owners to contribute their labor in con-
struction, has compounded the financial difficulties of Wainwrighters. In
order to get their houses, a number of men had to quit jobs, which they may
not be able to get back when the homes are finished. The other beneficiar-
ies from the program are unable to get away for hunting and need cash to buy
food. So the 1972 welfare budget will exceed that of the previous year.16
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Members of the Wainwright City Council and others in the village express
uneasiness about this trendJ7 They feel ambivalent about various aspects of
modernization in their village because they sense an insidious relation to
18
welfare; the fate of "going to the dogs" as it is locally called. New ways
of meeting a strongly felt need among the men for self-validation as family
providers will be difficult to find. And the ability to maintain precious
self-esteem, which many consider a vital factor if Eskimos are to adjust to
their rapidly changing world, (Chance 1960:1035 and Lubart 1969) would be
seriously impaired by mounting dependence on welfare.
Describing the community of Kavalina in 1960, Saario and Kessel (1966:
1027) present a well-balanced assesment of the effect of welfare there:
"Welfare services do not appear to have had a detrimental
effect in the village, although it is a service that some out-
side white persons have viewed as encourging dependence on the
government and creating a lack of initiative. Most of the wel-
fare payments in Kivalina are either Aid to Dependent Children
or Old Age Assistance. Since part of the old Eskimo value orien-
tation included helping those who were needy and unable to help
themselves, the help attended by the government agencies appears
as a normal and reasonable action.
As long as the majority of families are able to subsist by
their own efforts, welfare will probably remain a welcome help
for people who would otherwise be the responsibility of the vil-
lage. However, should circumstances arise whereby the village re-
sidents might not be able to gain their own livelihood and might
find it necessary to rely mostly on welfare payments to exist, the
resultant emotions and reactions would probably be most detrimental."
(Italics added.)
It must be recognized that the current rate of investments in social ser-
vice projects could easily lead to the circumstances described, not only in
Wainwright and Emmonak, but in other native communities as well. Those more
familiar with villages throughout the state can probably think of communities
where severe deterioration has already occurred. The Federal and State legis-
latures, service agencies, as well as the communities themselves, are under
compelling obligation to find ways of avoiding such detrimental results.
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In regard to the AVDP facilities, one short-term solution, which would
avoid some of the potentially adverse effects of outside support, would be
assistance in the form of periodically negotiated grants to the city coun-
cils. This would be with the understanding that, as local financing capa-
bility grows, assistance would be reduced in proportion. Such a plan can
provide for payment of substantial fees by households and individuals, but
at a level which does not generate additional demand for welfare in each
household.
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INSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Looking beyond the immediate needs created by the two demonstration
projects, the rural housing programs and attendant construction in many
villages of utility systems of some type or other will soon create opera-
tion and maintenance support requirements throughout the state. An appro-
priate institutional framework, however, for the management of small utility
systems in rural Alaska does not exist. Whereas communities are generally
expected to be self-sufficient in this regard, Alaskan villages are too small;
too isolated from centers of supply; and too devoid of economic base to be
able to manage any but the most makeshift utilities on their own. The long-
term viability of bonafide utility systems in Alaska villages, therefore, will
depend on the establishment of mechanisms at the state-wide or regional level
1 Q
to provide support services.
The precedents for this exist. An REA supported Alaska Village Electric
Cooperative attempts to meet the need for operating support in reference to
power systems. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Alaska State Operated
School System share fiscal responsibility for village schools. The Indian
Health Service provides medical care. In relation to water supply and waste
disposal, neither the legal authority nor the financial resources for an
operation support mechanism appear to exist.
Enactment of the Village Safe Water Act (AS46.07.010-080) by the Alaska
State Legislature in 1970 and passage of a three million dollar bond issue
for the construction of village water and waste processing facilities con-
stitute initial efforts on the part of the state in reference to village
utilities. Implementation of the Act has been delayed because of the lack
of resources for its administration.
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In March 1972, partly as a result of close liaison between Alaska
Village Demonstration Project staff and the Alaska Department of Environ-
mental Conservation, an amended version of the Village Safe Water Act was
introduced 1n the state legislature as HB 719. It was not enacted in 1972,
nor was it reintroduced in 1973. It would have authorized the Alaska Com-
missioner of Environmental Conservation to play a direct role in all phases
of rural water and waste utility service administration. It would have con-
stituted a significant first step towards the creation of the necessary sup-
portive mechanisms.
Concern at the State agency level over the problem of how to provide
appropriate service and to meet increasingly strict environmental protection
standards is currently high. In late 1972, the Governor's Environmental Ad-
visory Board recommended that the State Commissioner of Environmental Con-
servation prepare a staff paper to define the specific problems in water sup-
ply and sewage disposal systems in Alaska and then recommend a series of ac-
tions to solve these problems. At the invitation of the Commissioner, a
group of 23 key representatives of Federal and State agencies, including
AVDP staff, addressed themselves to these issues in a two-day seminar. The
participants easily identified the problems. A wide range of opinions emer-
ged on how they should be solved. The findings of the conferees are being
summarized in a Department of Environmental Conservation Research Report and
will be presented to the Governor's Environmental Advisory Board in the near
future.
The potential for the formation of regional inter-village support or-
ganizations also exist. One alternative is through the formation of addi-
tional boroughs, roughly equivalent to counties, in the lower 48 states and
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subsequent transfer of powers related to utilities from all member munici-
palities to the borough. With the exception of the communities on the North
Slope, this does not appear to be an immediate prospect. Aspirants to bor-
oughship must demonstrate financial feasibility and then face strong, legal
challenges from groups representing the potential tax base.
Wainwright is one of five member cities of the recently created North
Slope Borough. As of August 1973, the formation of this borough is still
being contested by oil interests. If the borough can manage to establish
itself firmly and if it succeeds in collecting taxes at proposed rates, then
the fiscal resources may be available to support operation and maintenance
of the Wainwright Central Community Facility and of plants similar to it in
all five member villages. The oil discoveries on the North Slope, however,
make the situation there unique. There is little foreseeable prospect that
such boroughs can be formed in other predominantly rural areas.
A second alternative is for the Alaska State Legislature to exercise
20
its descretionary power, under the State Constitution, of establishing ser-
vice areas within the unorganized borough to provide the institutional frame-
work required. Within such a service area, transfer of powers to the legis-
lature from villages which are already incorporated would seem no more of a
problem than in the case of such a transfer to the borough assembly in the
organized boroughs.
The unorganized borough is essentially an instrumentality of the State
over which the State legislature has those powers of government which the
borough assemblies exercise in the organized boroughs. To date, the State
legislature has chosen not to act in reference to the unorganized borough.
In effect, in respect to "local powers", the areas have not been governed.
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A third alternative is to authorize and encourage regional native cor-
porations (required by the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act) to as-
sume responsibility for utility services by utilizing proceeds from the
Claims Act to subsidize utilities operation. Potentially undesirable effects
of this alternative should be carefully considered.
Since the native regional corporations are responsible to their native
stockholders only, their control over rural utilities could lead to further
polarization of natives and non-natives in the bush. Encouragement leading
to dispersal of proceeds from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to pro-
vide services, instead of their investment in interest or profit-earning
enterprise, is considered by many to be fiscally unsound counsel.
Settlement benefits could be dissipated rapidly if they were applied
toward meeting substantial service needs. Assuming a final Alaska Native
enrollment of 75,000 persons, a total benefit consumption policy would re-
sult in an average annual per capita income of $640 for a period of 20 years.
A constant pay out investment model could be expected to yield $560 per per-
21
son each year in perpetuity.
In consideration of the very low level of economic development in the
bush, competing demands for this or some intermediate yield will be tremen-
dous. Skillful fiscal management and management of the lands which are part
of the settlement may increase the total resources available to some regional
corporations. These resources could serve as "seed", leading towards devel-
opment of a firmer economic base.
It should be noted that the Canadian Territorial Governments are pro-
viding community water and sanitation services in the Yukon and Northwest
Territories. A review of Canadian reports indicates that the Territorial
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Governments are assuming primary responsibility for provision of such ser-
vices in both tax-based and unorganized communities. The Government of the
Northwest Territories has gone much further in defining service standards
than the Federal or State governments have in the United States. With anti-
pollution requirements less stringent in Canada, provision of waste treat-
ment facilities has been given less emphasis there.
A recent document of the Department of Local Government, Government
of the Northwest Territories, reviews the history of water and sanitation
policy for small communities in the Canadian North and proposes broad re-
. . 22
visions.
At the moment, it is not overly important who actually owns the AVDP
facilities. The immediate question centers on the locus of responsibility
for providing operating and maintenance resources. Eventually, however,
the problem of how to increase local financing capability must be faced.
In the case of bush communities, it would appear that governments must con-
sider investment in local economic development at a rate commensurate with
investments in social services. Obviously, such an approach has not been
given serious consideration. Beginning with the construction of village
schools, followed by the imposition of the universal education rule for
children, and later by provision of medical and various other services, the
investment imbalance is now historic.
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NOTES
1. There is no lack of testimony from civil servants working in
Alaska on this score. Also see Harrison and Morehouse (1970).
2. Note Graburn, whose study of the Sugluk Eskimos examines how
"again and again changes in one area of life have profound, often unintended
or even disastrous, effects on areas of life that appear completely unre-
lated" (1969:10). See also Hippler (1968).
3. Large scale application of pesticides, initially advocated by ag-
riculture extention agents, has led to breeding of pests immune to such
toxins and has endangered, instead, the existence of other species formerly
controlling the pests.
4. Solicitation of client participation in planning and decision-
making notwithstanding. This type of communication, though improving
chances of overall success, also has weaknesses. Control continues to rest
with the administrator who is reponsible to the agency rather than to the
client. He accepts those aspects of client input which can be accommodated
conveniently and inevitably tends to reject others as unimportant or be-
cause they are beyond the limits of agency jurisdiction.
Also, in instances where the sponsor could be unusually receptive, ef-
fective client input is often inhibited by similar experiences the client
has had which turned out unproductive. See also Harrison (1971).
5. Relocation of the Chipewyan Indians from their former residence at
Duck Lake to a camp near Churchill, Manitoba is a typical example. See the
articles by Robert M. Bone, Ravindra Lai, and Phil Dickman in The Musk-
Ox, No. 6, for a description of what happened. Hlady (1960) outlines a
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belated and probably useless "education" and "community development" pro-
ject that is supposed to revitalize the clients.
In Greenland, a policy of consolidating scattered rural settlements
in semi-urban centers and of accommodating the immigrants in apartment-type
housing appears to have contributed to severe stress manifesting itself in
drunkenness, lack of motivation and disintegration of social controls.
6. Section 20, Public Law 91-224, calls upon the Secretary of the
Interior (since December 1970, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency) to:
"(a) enter into agreements with the State of Alaska to carry
out one or more projects to demonstrate methods to provide for cen-
tral community facilities for safe water and the elimination or con-
trol of water pollution in those native villages of Alaska without
such facilities. Such projects shall include provisions for com-
munity safe water supply systems, toilets, bathing and laundry facili-
ties, sewage disposal facilities, and other similar facilities, and
educational and informational facilities and programs relating to
health and hygiene. Such demonstration projects shall be for the
further purpose of developing preliminary plans for providing such
safe water and such elimination or control of water pollution for
all native villages in such State.
(b) In carrying out this section the Secretary shall cooper-
ate with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for
the purpose of utilizing such of the personnel and facilities
of that Department as may be appropriate.
(c) The Secretary shall report to Congress not later than
January 31, 1973, the results of the demonstration projects
authorized by this section together with his recommendations,
including any necessary legislation, relating to the establish-
ment of a state-wide program.
(d) There is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed
$1,000,000 to carry out this section."
7. CY 1969 per capita income among the residents of the 14 villages
which constitute the Wade Hampton Census District was $891. (General Social
and Economic Characteristics, Alaska, 1970 Census Population, Bureau of the
Census, November 1971, Table 135.) The results of investigations of per-
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sonal income in Emmonak during CY 1971 show a per capita cash income of
$1,312.
8. Personal communication from Fred Milan. In the course of his fre-
quent long visits to Wainwright, spanning 17 years, he has gained this im-
pression. Richard Wiser's experience at Wainwright supports this observa-
tion. Mr. Wiser is BIA Social Services Officer in Fairbanks.
9. A study conducted in 1968 concludes that of 124 then-living female
offspring to then-living Wainwright women, 41 were over age 20. Of this num-
ber, only seven had married Wainwright men, and only five were living in
Wainwright unmarried. The remainder (29) had left the village, ten to marry
whites from Point Barrow or elsewhere and eight to marry Eskimos elsewhere
in Alaska (Milan 1970).
10. Per capita income, Anchorage Census District, in CY 1967 was $3,217
(Sullivan 1969:7, Table 9). Thus:
Per capita income CY 1967 - $3,217
Per capita income CY 1969 - 4,094
Increase over CY 1967 - 27.26%
Computed per capita income CY 1971 - $5,210
11. Food Price Indices compiled by the Alaska Agricultural Experiment
Station and based, in part, on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ap-
pear to come closest to this requirement.
12. Time limitation, unfortunately, did not permit a detailed examin-
ation of this aspect of the village economy. With the exception of infor-
mation collected on Point Hope and Kivalina in the course of Cape Thompson
study commissioned by the AEC in the late 1950's there is little detailed
knowledge of the subsistence economy in the villages.
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13. Wainwrighters estimate the annual caribou harvest at 36 animals
per household. At a weight of 120 lbs. per carcass and a price of 60 cents
per pound, the value of caribou meat per household would be $2,592. The
cash value of meat from sea mammals and fish is harder to tie down. Large
portions of the sea mammals are fed to the dogs. $1000 per household of
6.54 persons is chosen as an arbitrary but liberal figure, bringing total
proceeds to, say, $3,600 or $550 per person.
14. Since these conclusions are based, in part, on estimated factors,
we must consider how they may have to be changed, should experience bear
out some of the estimates to be in error. Quick computations will show that
in the unlikely instance of adjusting any one major factor by even twenty
or thirty percent, the trend of the results would not be affected.
15. Recognizing that despite the generally higher cost of things in
the village the need for money there may be lower than in the city, it would
be nice to know what village household expenditures are. Unfortunately,
there has been little exploration of this subject so far, and the writer has
not had sufficient opportunity to investigate. Native villagers, for in-
stance, do not pay for education or for medical services. They pay less
rent. On the other hand, they may be paying more for electricity, fuel oil
and transportation (need to go by air) than the city dweller. Also, the
overhead involved in fishing and hunting is substantial.
16. BIA General Assistance payments to Wainwright residents may reach
$30,000 in 1972. In 1970/71 Wainwright received $23,436. Annual payments
during the five previous years came to an average of $6,600.
17. Personal communication from Richard Wiser, BIA Social Services
Branch at Fairbanks. The Council wants to act responsibly, but feels in a
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pinch. Some of the residents are beginning to get used to receiving assis-
tance. The Council doesn't dare to say no.
In the wake of discussing ways of financing facility operations at a
general village meeting, the question arose whether it would be possible
to reduce the scope of the facility to meet first priority needs only.
There is a consensus that improvements in the water supply system are more
important than improvements in methods of waste disposal. Such considera-
tions reflect a genuine concern for the economic viability of the community.
For observations in this regard in other Alaska Native Communities see also
Federal Field Committee for Development Planning in Alaska (1968:62).
18. A phrase commonly applied at Barrow and sometimes at Wainwright -
not by whites but by the Eskimos themselves.
19. A recent comprehensive study commissioned by the Alaska Governor's
Office of Planning and Research and funded by the Farmers Home Administra-
tion arrives at a similar conclusion. See: Initial Plan and Program: Water
Supply and Waste Disposal, Planning Area — State of Alaska, Office of the
Governor, December 1972, pp. 7-8.
20. Alaska State Constitution, Article X, Section 6. See also Alaska
Statutes, Section 29.03.020.
21. Computed from models developed by Robert R. Nathan Associates, Inc.,
in Implementing the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Washington, D. C.,
April 1972.
22. Proposed Water Sanitation Policy for Communities in the Northwest
Territories. Department of Local Government, Government of the Northwest
Territories, March 1973.
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10
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REFERENCES
Alaska, State of, Initial Plan and Program: Water Supply and Waste Dis-
posal , Planning Area V, Office of the Governor, December, 1972, pp. 7-8.
Bone, Robert M., "The Chipewyan Indians of Dene Village: An Editorial
Note," The Musk-Ox, No. 6. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, pp. 1-4.
Bureau of the Census, General Social and Economic Characteristics, Alaska,
1970 Census Population, November, 1971.
Canada, Government of the Northwest Territories, Proposed Water Sanita-
tion Pol 1cy for Communities in_ Jhe Northwest Territories, Department of
Local Government, March, 1973.
Chance, Norman A., "Culture Change and Integration: An Eskimo Example,"
American Anthropologist, Volume 62, No. 6, December, 1960, pp. 1028-1044.
Dickman, Phil, "Thoughts on Relocation," The Musk-Ox, No. 6, University
of Saskatoon, pp. 22-31.
Federal Field Committee for Development Planning in Alaska, Alaska Natives
and The Land, Anchorage, October, 1968.
Foote, D. C. and H. A. Williamson, "A Human Geographical Study," in Norman
J. Wilimovsky, ed., Environment of the Cape Thompson Region, Alaska, 1966,
pp. 1041-1107.
Graburn, Nelson H. H., Eskimos Without Igloos: Social and Economic De-
velopment in Sugluk, Boston, 1969.
Harrison, Gordon S. and Thomas A. Morehouse, "Rural Alaska's Development
Problem," The Polar Record, Volume 15, No. 96, 1970, pp. 291-299.
Harrison, Gordon S., The Flow of Communication Between Government Agencies
and Eskimo Villages in Rural Alaska, M.S., January, 1971.
Hippler, Arthur E., "Some Unplanned Consequences of Planned Culture Change,"
Higher Latitudes of North America: Socio-Economic Studies iji Regional De-
velopment, Boreal Institute, University of Alberta, Occasional Publication
No. 6, 1968, pp. 11-21.
Hippler, Arthur E., Barrow and Kotzebue: An Exploratory Comparison of Ac-
culturaltion and Education iji Two Large Northwestern Alaska Vi 11 ages, Un-
iversity ofMinnesota, Minneapolis, 1969.
Hlady, Walter M., A Community Development Project Amongst the Churchill
Band at Churchill, Manitoba, September 1959 - March 1960, Saskatoon,
Sasketchewan, December, 1960.
Lai, Ravindra, "From Duck Lake to Camp 10: Old Fashioned Relocation," The
Musk-Ox, No. 6, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, pp. 5-13.
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16. Lai, Ravindra, "Some Observations on the Social Life of the Chipewyans
of Camp 10, Churchill, and Their Implications for Community Development,"
The Musk-Ox, No. 6, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, pp. 14-20.
17. Lubart, Joseph M., M.D., Psychodynamic Problems of Adaptation - Mackenzie
Delta Eskimos, Northern Science Research Group, Department of Indian Af-
fairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, December, 1969.
18. Mead, Margaret, Cultural Patterns and Technical Change, New York, 1955.
19. Milan, Frederick A., "The Acculturation of the Contemporary Eskimo of
Wainwright, Alaska," Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska,
Volume XI, No. 2, 1964.
20. Milan, Frederick A., "The Demography of An Alaskan Eskimo Village," Arctic
Anthropology, Volume VII, No. 1, 1970, pp. 26-43.
21. Nathan, Robert R., Associates Inc., Implementing the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act, Washington, D. C., April, 1972.
22. Saario, Doris J. and Brina Kessel, "Human Ecological Investigations at
Kivalina," in Norman 0. Wilimovsky, ed., Environment of the Cape Thompson
Region, Alaska, 1966, pp. 969-1040.
23. Spicer, Edward H. (ed.), Human Problems in Technological Change, Russel
Sage Foundation, New York, 1952.
24. Sullivan, James W., "Personal Income Patterns in Alaska," Alaska Review
of Business and Economic Conditions, ISEGR, Volume VI, No. 1, February,
1969.
25. Tussing, Arlon R. and Monica Thomas, "Prices and Costs of Living in Urban
Alaska," Alaska Review of Business and Economic Conditions, Volume VIII,
No. 3, September, 1971.
~ US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1973-796-165
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