Water System Vulnerabilities in Rural Alaska: The Role of Transportation Infrastructure

The provision of water services in Alaska can be challenging, given the extreme climate and geographic remoteness of many communities. In fact, 82% of communities are not connected to the roadway system. The lack of road access creates a reliance on alternative transportation modes, such as planes or barges, to deliver essential supplies (e.g., pumps and treatment chemicals). This operating context leads to unique couplings between water and transportation systems that are typically absent in the contiguous US. For example, if a critical pump breaks in a water system, a utility may not be able to get a new part until the next barge arrives, leading to long-term water outages—this was seen in Bethel, Alaska, in 2021. Here, we identify and characterize interdependencies between water and transportation systems in Alaska. Using a systems-thinking approach, we explore how these relationships can be pathways to water system failures or sources of resilience. We conducted and qualitatively analyzed semi-structured interviews with utility providers in Bethel—a hub town that provides water through a piped distribution system or hauled water to household tanks, depending on the neighborhood. Results show that most interdependencies present are between ground transportation and hauled water systems, including many sources of vulnerability (e.g., road maintenance challenges or poor roadway conditions lead to challenges in delivering water). The supply chain of materials and equipment is the most frequent relationship between air and waterway modes of transportation and water systems. The relationships identified here can serve as a foundation for decision-support models, such as decision trees or agent-based modeling.