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Pitkas Point, a Yup'ik village of 109 people on the Yukon River in Southwest Alaska, recently turned on a new water and sewer system -- ending an era of haul water and honeybuckets.
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium completed the three-year, $11 million construction project using local labor -- a temporary job boom in a village where the average per-capita income is less than $11,000 a year.
Public health officials say villages without running water have much higher rates of respiratory and skin ailments, especially among children under the age of two.
According to data from the U.S. Census, less than .06 percent of the population lacks indoor plumbing, and most of those who do live in Rural Alaska.
ANTHC officials say there are still 46 villages that still don't have running water -- and they are some of the toughest to do construction in.
Shot by photojournalist Brian Hild and edited by Eric Sowl.