• Main Author: Frank P. Pads
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Subarctic; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.543.772; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic6-3-205.pdf

T o UNIJEKS~AND the problems of the present and enable sound planning for the future, it is wise to have a knowledge of the past history of the area under study. As the enteric diseases have been used as an index of the general environmental sanitary conditions of an area, a history of the past outbreaks in arctic and subarctic Alaska is of value in understanding the present problems in basic sanitation and control of enteric diseases, and formulating plans for the future. In Alaska, providing safe and adequate water supply and sewage disposal systems is a vital problem which is intricately linked with the outbreaks of enteric diseases, Of the 286 communities in Alaska, there are, according to the 1950 census, 63 with populations of 200 or more. Of this group of 63, only 29 have a limited water distribution system (26). The water supply in the other 223 communities is obtained on an individual basis from single-premise wells, community wells, rivers, lakes, lake ice, or snowfields. Little of this water is treated. Of the same 63 communities with populations of 200 or more, there are