“There are millions of gallons of raw, untreated wastewater stored in outfalls beneath South Pole Station.”
Melting one gallon of -60°F snow into usable water takes roughly 618 watt-hours, which is why showers at Pole are capped at two minutes. The well that supplies the water becomes the sewer once it gets too big. Raw sewage goes under the ice with zero treatment, and the Antarctic Treaty allows it. As of June 2024 no treatment plant is planned or budgeted. The cleanest continent on Earth has a septic tank under its most famous science station.