A Stakeholder-Systems Analysis of Water Provision in Rural Alaska

Abstract

People are paramount in the operations of water infrastructure systems. While such processes are similar throughout most communities in the United States, including treatment and distribution, each community encounters localized challenges. In the Yukon−Kuskokwim (YK) Delta of Alaska, specifically, water sector professionals (e.g., water plant operators and water haulers) encounter unique and extreme challenges. The harsh arctic weather makes road navigation dangerous for water haulers, and water plant operators must contend with a precarious supply chain when ordering supplies for maintenance. Such challenges can disrupt water provision for communities. In this study, we analyze semistructured interviews with 24 Alaska water sector professionals, using qualitative content analysis and semicognitive mapping. We built a conceptual integration of systems and stakeholder theory to identify barriers to water provision and leverage points for improvement. We examine three components of the water provision process in rural Alaska communities: water treatment, hauled water distribution, and piped water distribution. We show that to increase workforce retention, limit worker burnout, and ensure reliable water provision, practices including training and certification need to become more localized. Moreover, working conditions and operating environment around the worker need to be more central in water system considerations, especially for water hauling, where workers play a critical role in water distribution. This analysis reveals a key conclusion that underlies all our propositions: people are a leverage point for water provision improvement. In so doing, we contribute to the literature in public administration and bureaucracy, sociotechnical systems, and stakeholder theory as applied to infrastructure systems, more generally, and water systems, more specifically.