Portable sanitation system to improve home water use and quality of life
Official title: Evaluation of the Portable Alternative Sanitation System (PASS) on In-Home Water Use and Quality of Life
Funded at Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium · NIH-11141107 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will test a portable sanitation system (PASS) in Alaska Native homes to see if it helps with water use, hygiene, and household well-being.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Anchorage, United States) |
| Project start | September 5, 2022 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $346,699 |
| NIH project number | 5S06GM146094-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11141107 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are Alaska Native households living in rural or remote areas without reliable in-home piped water and sanitation, including families with children and elders.
✕Less likely to help
Households that already have adequate indoor plumbing or those living outside the targeted Alaska Native communities are unlikely to benefit from this intervention.
What this research studies
From your perspective, researchers will place the PASS unit in homes that lack indoor plumbing and follow households over time to track water use, waste management, and health. They will collect biomedical data (like respiratory and skin infection rates) alongside locally defined measures of well-being and daily life. The team will work with community members to ensure methods are culturally appropriate and compare changes over several years. Results will be used to see whether the PASS option can reduce infections and improve living conditions in remote Alaska Native communities.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the PASS could reduce water-washed infections and improve hygiene and quality of life for households without indoor plumbing.
How similar studies have gone: Past work found infection rates dropped after installing in-home water services in some communities, but portable sanitation solutions like PASS are newer and less well tested.
Where this research is happening
-
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
Anchorage, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Eichelberger, Laura P — Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
- Study coordinator: Eichelberger, Laura P
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.