Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 04:35
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Space Weather Monitoring on the Antarctic Plateau

What happens to the sewage and grey water that is generated from the station? Where does the freshwater come from?

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 04:37

Anonymous

This question is from T-Google

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 06:30

Michelle Brown

Great question!
The grey water and waste water is pumped into a really deep hole in the ice here. Once the hole is filled up, they move on to another one. I need to double check, but they do not go through too many holes a year.
Fresh water has to be melted from the ice. They dig a deep hole and melt the ice. This requires a lot of energy. For that reason, showers and laundry are restricted and monitored. Once all the ice from the hole has been dug out, it is used for the waste water.
Thanks for asking about this. It's a very different system than in McMurdo, where sewage is treated and shipped back to the U.S., and water is treated from salt water. There are way less people at the South Pole, which makes it less logical to build a sewage treatment center.
Sincerely,
Michelle

Wed, 01/04/2012 - 09:53

Anonymous

Thanks Mr Bolton.