Reflections from time on ‘the Ice’

• MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica
Dec. 4, 2006 | 5:35 a.m. ET
Since we arrived here in Antarctica, I’ve been hearing a bit of good-natured crap from some of the locals — and now I can say we have also seen it! In our quest to find out what really makes McMurdo Station run, photojournalist John Brecher and I took a tour of the waste water treatment plant, a building situated below the rest of the U.S. station (yes, the stuff really does flow downhill here).

Until 2003, when the $5 million plant was built, “sewage went right into the bay,” says Cindy Dean, the environmental and compliance coordinator here. Divers who have been below the frozen ice have seen and videotaped sewage and other debris, vehicles included, that were dumped there for years.

All the toilet, kitchen and shower liquids now snake through McMurdo in above ground pipes and are greeted at the plant by two “muffin monsters” — think chocolate muffins — that tenderize thicker objects.

Manager Rick Moore single-handedly — OK, not with his hands but with lots of machines — treats the waste water.

He is hoping that we will dispel the myth that the plant stinks — and he is right: While it has a scent, it is more like a garden nursery. He also likes to look on the bright side of his job, such as the fact that corn passes right through the body and into his ponds. “It makes for a colorful day,” he says.

Other environmental practices include strict procedures at sensitive sites off station: Pee bottles (users are reminded not to abandon them in sleeping kits after the season or they might leak over time) as well as poop bags that go into drums.

It is all part of “managing your personal wastes,” Cindy tells a group about to go out into the field. There is a loophole, however. If waste cannot be contained, one may fill out a “record of practicality.”

McMurdo is also big on recycling. If you think sorting at home can be tricky, add these bins to the mix: “burnables” and food waste. Those make you wonder where to put tea bags, among other things. (The tea bag answer: Either bin works).

James VanMatre, whose e-mail motto is “waste time, all the time,” runs that end of the waste business with a staff of 14. They are inside an old Navy building dubbed “The Rusty Elephant” because of its wrinkly (and moldy) outside shell.

Each week, they process 78,000 pounds of waste — two-thirds of which is recycled, including 100 percent of all plastic. Most is from McMurdo, the rest from the U.S. station at the South Pole.

‘Smells like hot dogs’
For some unknown reason, the South Pole waste “smells like hot dogs,” says James, who adds that he made his way up after starting years ago as janitor. “They groomed me,” he says of his bosses.

All the waste is sorted, stored and eventually fills 400 containers on the one ship sent at the end of each summer season. The food waste is shipped as frozen storage for health reasons, and then thawed at a warehouse when the ship arrives in California. That part gets expensive, but overall the recyclables are sold and net an $80,000 profit.

John Brecher / MSNBC.com After treated water has been removed from McMurdo's sewage, the remaining solid material is packaged and returned to the United States. Seedlings appear in the end product as it awaits shipping, the result of seeds which survived both human digestion and the waste treatment process.

I would have to say the highlight of our day was visiting the “Cake Room” at the water treatment plant. That is where the end product, a.k.a. human fertilizer, is boxed and stored. Who would have thought that something so bowel could be beautiful? Little plants were literally growing in the compost. Rick knew exactly the source: the seeds from the tomatoes and cucumbers served in The Galley dining hall.

As entertaining as that was, this story does have an unhappy ending: All that human waste — packed in several dozen 3,000-pound boxes — is shipped at the end of each southern summer back to the States.

That’s a good thing, better there than on Antarctica. But the final destination, Washington state, happens to be where we live. Yup, all the crap we’ve seen here is gonna follow us back home.

Other observations:

• While 98 percent of Antarctica is covered in ice, McMurdo is actually pretty dusty this time of year. The relatively warm summer weather exposes rock, some of which gets ground up in the maintenance of roads and then kicked around by the wind.
• Genders are not in balance (two guys for every gal), but it is a heck of a lot closer to parity than 40 years ago when it was hundreds of Navy sailors and a handful of women.
• The Navy operated a nuclear power plant here from 1962 to 1972. Power is now generated by diesel — not the cleanest fuel, but new equipment has improved emissions.

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