244 Alaskan Science Conference 



In communities where adequate sources of water have been 

 found, distribution of it is difficult under low temperature 

 conditions. Distribution by use of barrels or tank conveyances 

 is common in these communities, but such methods expose the 

 water to contamination and are inconvenient. Special precau- 

 tions in construction and operation are necessary to keep water 

 mains, buried in permafrost, from freezing. Very low air tem- 

 peratures make insulation of water mains necessary if the mains 

 are located above ground. The present relatively high cost of 

 dispensing water under pressure from community systems in 

 permafrost regions almost precludes the possibility of general 

 installation of such systems. Primitive water supply and dis- 

 tribution methods will continue in most communities until we 

 develop better methods for water supply which are economical 

 in the permafrost regions. 



Sewage Disposal (3) 



In temperate climates, natural processes reduce and destroy 

 great quantities of organic and infectious material through 

 normal action of the soil. Excrement placed in appropriate 

 zones of the soil is decomposed and rendered harmless by the 

 complicated reductive forces of nature. 



The soil has been described as a living thing presenting many 

 of the vital phenomena that characterize life: digestion, metabo- 

 lism, assimilation, growth, respiration, motion, and reproduc- 

 tion. The soil absorbs oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide- 

 through complex metabolic processes, it digests vast amounts of 

 organic material— it excretes wastes and if the wastes are re- 

 tained, it becomes choked with the accumulation of its own 

 poisons. 



The rise and fall of ground water is analogous to the move- 

 ments of the diaphragm and assists the respiratory functions 

 of the soil. The soil is teeming with life such as bacteria, molds, 

 and many forms of the animal kingdom. 



Permafrost and the extended period of seasonal frost in the 

 Arctic interfere with normal breathing and metabolic processes 

 of the soil and retard the assimilation of organic material. 



