Domestic Water A Problem In Desert Of Antarctica

Press, Volume CI, Issue 30005, 14 December 1962, Page 19

Domestic Water A Problem In Desert Of Antarctica

IBy

GRAHAM BILLING,

N.Z. Antarctic Research Programme Information Officer]

SCOTT BASE. Water rules life in Antarctica It freezes tn the earth, it freezes in the air forming haioes of dancing ice crystals around the sun. Because water is scarce men fear fire aid to keep Scott Base runn.ng they spend hours each day winning it from snow. Antarctica is a desert. Making water is here a major part of the task of living.

Imagine having unlimited quantities of cigarettes but no matches, tons of tinned food but no cam opener. And if it were not for Antarctic cold the six inches of water yielded by an annual 18-inch snowfall at Scott Base would evaporate to nothing. Chief of domestic chores tor men of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme is the collection of sufficient snow each day to make water for cooking, drinking and washing—about 200 gallons of water or 20001 b of snow. Each day the “house mouse” —one of the base staff whose turn it is to perform the day s domestic duties—spends several hours digging snow blocks from a clean field nearby to fill the three snow melting tanks which supply the base with water. One melts snow for ablutions and laundry, another for the photographic darkroom. and the third for the galley. There is no water here for refinements such as flush toilets. Even if there were, how could sewer lines be kept from freezing? Limited sewage disposal is possible—bath water runs away down a pipe within a pipe heated by hot air. Dishwashing water is heated in a special tank before disposal. In good weather snow gathering is a pleasant task. The broad snow field runs across the slopes of Crater Hill named by Captain Scott, and has a splendid view of ice shelf, islands and mainland mountains. There, each day, the “house mouse” drives the "snow weasel,” a converted weasel

vehicle with a small truck deck. On the snow field he cuts big blocks with a shovel and then hauls the load back to fill the waiting melters. Each melter has holding and settling tanks. One operates with hot exhaust gas from the generator engines, another with an electric element, and the third with a kerosene heater. To serve as “house mouse” has advantages for he who brings snow gains water rights. After household duties the “house mouse" does his laundry in an electric washing machine. During the long night watch he has time to take a bath, most welcome because it comes only once every two or three weeks. But bathing has its trials because to save water and to ensure pipes do not freeze a complex pumping system has been devised for drawing water. More than one “house mouse” new to the job has gone bathless because he pumped hot water into a cold water tank instead of the batn. In summer water brings other problems for Scott Base. Ice and snow melt around the base. In sun-trap corners pools of water form. Water seeps down to flood the covered walkways which connect the base huts. This is happening now. As I write the outside temperature is 18 degrees of frost. Such temperatures would bring chaos and danger for city traffic in New Zealand, where the atmosphere is comparatively damp but here on a windless, sunny day they bring the thaw and slush. In sheltered spots men work outside now stripped to singlets above the waist. Two months ago the two-mile road across the Hut Point Peninsula to' the McMurdo Station was snow covered. Now Scott Base vehicles drive through pools of water when they reach the warmer northern side

Limited water supplies are jus: one small disadvantage of living in Antarctica. Fire danger is much greater here, for instance, but we grow more patient as the sun turns endlessly about the horizon. To cut our water from a snow field fits in with a peaceful pattern of life. It reflects another paradox of life on a continent where everything is inside out. Strangely, with all this ice about we never seem to have any for drinks. We live in a refrigerator so we don’t bother to install one which makes those little ice cubes which, we remember, tinkle so pleasantly in a tall glass