7 ms·

With water being so scarce, what are the toilet bowls filled with? I'm not clear whether all water is rationed down there, or only hot water.

Kostchei 4y ago
no reason not to be a dry drop. It would be frozen and no longer ... active... after a few minutes
yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
It seems likely that the standard for that it lower; you kind of need clean water to bathe, both practically and for sanitary/health reasons, but you can flush toilets with dirtier water. ...Actually, now I'm wondering if you could run toilets with water from showers.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  You can.
eigenhombre 4y ago
The men's urinals are water-free toilets. The sit-down toilets are low volume-per-flush, I expect. Water isn't exactly rationed -- people are just asked to minimize. To be clear, there is a LOT of water (the station sits atop two miles/3km of the purest ice). What's really being rationed is energy, which is very, very expensive there (the rough calculation I've heard is 10x non-Ice prices, others would know better).
- metadat 4y ago
  Interesting information, thank you! This was exactly what I was wondering about. The only part I'm struggling with a bit with is "10x non-ice prices". What does this mean? Are you able to indulge me in additional explanation? Thanks again.
  - joshvm 4y ago
    The whole station runs on jet fuel (AN-8 kerosene) which is hauled inland from the coast. In the past this was done by aircraft, which emptied their tanks, but now it's mostly done using the South Pole Overland Traverse (SPOT). It takes about a month to get to the Pole this way, so you're paying for a tractor train plus staff and maintenance costs for at least two months (out and back). The alternative is paying for a lot of flying hours which is also expensive. There are now at least two traverses each summer. So the cost of the fuel is mostly in the cost of transportation i.e. very high. The generators are actually quite efficient. Water is heated as a byproduct of electricity production. I think it's by recovering heat from the engine exhaust. Antarctica is colloquially referred to as "Ice".

Kostchei 4y ago

no reason not to be a dry drop. It would be frozen and no longer ... active... after a few minutes

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago

It seems likely that the standard for that it lower; you kind of need clean water to bathe, both practically and for sanitary/health reasons, but you can flush toilets with dirtier water. ...Actually, now I'm wondering if you could run toilets with water from showers.

nibbleshifter 4y ago
You can.

eigenhombre 4y ago

The men's urinals are water-free toilets. The sit-down toilets are low volume-per-flush, I expect. Water isn't exactly rationed -- people are just asked to minimize. To be clear, there is a LOT of water (the station sits atop two miles/3km of the purest ice). What's really being rationed is energy, which is very, very expensive there (the rough calculation I've heard is 10x non-Ice prices, others would know better).

metadat 4y ago
Interesting information, thank you! This was exactly what I was wondering about. The only part I'm struggling with a bit with is "10x non-ice prices". What does this mean? Are you able to indulge me in additional explanation? Thanks again.
- joshvm 4y ago
  The whole station runs on jet fuel (AN-8 kerosene) which is hauled inland from the coast. In the past this was done by aircraft, which emptied their tanks, but now it's mostly done using the South Pole Overland Traverse (SPOT). It takes about a month to get to the Pole this way, so you're paying for a tractor train plus staff and maintenance costs for at least two months (out and back). The alternative is paying for a lot of flying hours which is also expensive. There are now at least two traverses each summer. So the cost of the fuel is mostly in the cost of transportation i.e. very high. The generators are actually quite efficient. Water is heated as a byproduct of electricity production. I think it's by recovering heat from the engine exhaust. Antarctica is colloquially referred to as "Ice".