vironmental Protection Agency were intended to demonstrate methods ofimproving environmental health conditions in rural Alaska. The need for such improvements is great. Seventy percent of Alaska's natives live in small villages where safe drinking water is not readily obtainable and where adequate waste disposal is often impossible without facilities for special treatment. Typi ca 1 sources of dri nk i ng water are streams, shallow 1akes, or ra i r, during the summer. Many of these ponds and streams are stagnant and contaminated. In areas underlain by permafrost, wells are generally unproductive. During the winter, villagers cut ice and melt it in clean fuel drums at home.

This report is part of the collection of scanned historical documents available to the public.