Waste water treatment in Antarctica : a feasibility study for grey water at Wasa station

• Main Author: Thomsen, Ann
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Industriell ekologi 2005
• Subjects: Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap; Antarctic; Wasa; Wasa Station; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-32649

Today more and more of our focus in Antarctica and the rest of the world are turning towards how we, theinhabitants, leave footprints on our planet. Scientists have found trace of humans all over the world evenin Antarctica’s fauna and flora. To be able to do research and understand our planet’s development andproblems, we must try to make as small impact on Antarctica as possible today and leave a pristinecontinent to the coming generations. One way to manage this is to not release untreated waste water. The aim of this thesis was to investigate different techniques for cleaning grey water for the SwedishAntarctic Summer Station Wasa. A survey on waste water treatment on almost all Antarctic researchstations has been carried out in order to find a suitable treatment method for the grey water released fromWasa. The survey showed that all twenty eight member states that operate research stations was includedand the survey covered 41 permanent stations, 26 summer stations and 4 field stations. The study showedthat 26 permanent stations and 8 summer stations had some kind of treatment for their waste water. Themost common treatment method at the permanent stations are biological treatment (8 stations) followed bysecondary treatment and maceration (4 stations per method). The results are based upon analyses from thesurvey answers and information from COMNAP’s homepage about members’ stations. One treatment system using chemical precipitate is currently under evaluation for Wasa. The system willbe tested in Sweden before the planned installation at Wasa during season 2006/2007. www.ima.kth.se