The Bering Strait village of Teller has entered the queue to get a new water and sewer system. That’s after the Indian Health Service (IHS) awarded $65 million toward the project in late April.
It would be the village’s first time having community-wide running water. Currently, residents haul water from a central washeteria.
Chris Fehrman is a Director of Sanitation Facilities Construction at IHS. He said the 250-person village of Teller earned a high priority score based on the project's health impact, existing need, and cost per home.
“In the case of Teller, it received extra points for being an unserved community,” Fehrman explained.
Fehrman said a financial contribution from the region’s tribal hospital, Norton Sound Health Corporation, boosted Teller’s score.
From here, the project will be handed off to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) for design and construction. ANTHC will also coordinate with the State of Alaska’s Village Safe Water program.
Like many coastal villages in Alaska, Teller has begun the process of building infrastructure further from the shore. A new housing development, the Coyote Creek subdivision, colloquially known as the “New Site”, is nearly two miles and about 100 feet uphill from Teller’s main infrastructure. According to a Facebook post announcing the award, IHS envisions the project servicing 70 homes.
Fehrman said ANTHC worked with Bristol Environmental to complete a preliminary engineering report on the Teller project. The project will soon enter a design phase Fehrman expects could take up to three years. A final design will determine whether both the new and existing townsites will be supported by the project.
With running water at every home, residents will be able to replace honey buckets with flushing toilets. Water will flow from faucets to help clean dishes and wash hands. Fehrman said these aren’t just improvements to quality of life, it’s part of a model IHS calls “One Health”.
“You can't just diagnose and treat diseases. Oftentimes you'll hear people talk about that its ‘sickcare’, right? We want to get ahead of that and be on the prevention side,” Fehrman said. “And that's where sanitation facilities construction comes in.”
The Teller project joins four other ongoing water and sewer projects in the Bering Strait region, including Shishmaref, Wales, Stebbins and Gambell. Fehrman said like the other projects, Teller’s could take up to a decade to complete.
“As a community that is not currently served by piped water and sewer, Teller is highly deserving of such a project to provide the highest level of public health possible,” Fehrman said.
Fehrman announced the grant to Mayor Blanche Garnie during a visit to Teller in late April. He was joined by Norton Sound Health Corporation CEO Angie Gorn and IHS Deputy Director Benjamin Smith.
