Editor From the Editor

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.404.6845; http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/32/31979.pdf

Spring is a time for new beginnings, and there are changes brewing at the National Environmental Services Center (NESC), but this issue of the Small Flows Quarterly takes a look at the past to see how far we’ve come and how far we have to go. As I mentioned last issue, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the National Small Flows Clearinghouse (NSFC), the wastewater treatment component of NESC. We have put together a history of the clearinghouse (pg. 8), and it proved informative to most of us here today to see just how many changes the organization went through, and how much development and time it took for us to be able to provide the services and information that we now have to offer. Straight pipes and pit privies (outhouses and holding tanks) were commonplace 25 years ago in many parts of the country. Their numbers have been significantly reduced since then with the widespread use of onsite wastewater treatment systems. But this is a big continent with many habitated areas in remote regions with harsh climates. In this issue, we have two articles (pp. 14 and 18) that look at rural Alaska, at Native Alaskan villages in particular, where domestic running water is not commonplace and the “honeybucket ” still is. As you will read, that picture is gradually changing. Pit privies are also still used elsewhere. This issue’s juried article (pg. 32) looks at a demonstration project in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York aimed at replacing some of these with composting toilets. Whether the challenge is environmental sensitivity or permafrost, there is an appropriate treatment system available for every site.