Sewage Disposal and Wildlife Health in Antarctica

Physical, chemical, biological and ecotoxicological properties of wastewater discharged from Davis Station, Antarctica

“…Of all human activity in Antarctica the one most likely to result in the release of very large numbers of micro-organisms to the environment, including potential pathogens, is discharge of sewage and wastewater (Smith and Riddle, 2009). Introduced micro-organisms from human sewage and wastewater have been found to survive and remain viable in the Antarctic environment for extended periods (Hughes and Nobbs, 2004;Smith et al, 1994).…”

“…Antarctica poses a number of challenges to the practicalities of wastewater treatment (Smith and Riddle, 2009). It is remote, very cold and very dry and wastewater treatment infrastructure has to be designed to operate under these conditions.…”

“…Effective treatment of wastewater in Antarctica requires an understanding of the properties of the wastewater, local conditions and the receiving environment, and of the constraints imposed by Antarctic environmental conditions on the efficacy of treatment technologies. Various mechanisms and pathways through which wastewater discharges may cause detrimental environmental impacts in Antarctica have recently been identified Hughes and Thompson, 2004;Smith and Riddle, 2009) and attention has turned to the development of new approaches to wastewater treatment specifically designed to prevent or mitigate these impacts (Barker et al, 2013;Connor, 2008;Gröndahl et al, 2009;Hughes, 2004).…”

Infectious diseases of Antarctic penguins: current status and future threats

“…The Madrid Protocol stipulates that only stations with a summer population of 30 or more personnel need to have some type of basic sewage treatment in place (Madrid Protocol 1991), though some of the larger bases have treatment systems that exceed their national water quality standards (Aronson et al 2011). It is undocumented whether any wildlife species have had a disease transmitted to them through contact with sewage effluent (Smith and Riddle 2009;Aronson et al 2011), though this may due to a lack of research effort. In addition to sewage, a number of other pollutants, such as heavy metals, chemicals, and medicines ingested by station personnel, end up in the water column near bases (Aronson et al 2011).…”

Environmental monitoring and management proposals for the Fildes Region, King George Island, Antarctica

“…Recent installations of modern sewage treatment plants demonstrate growing efforts by national Antarctic programmes to fulfil the guidelines of the Madrid Protocol. Nevertheless, a constant monitoring regime should be implemented to guarantee the efficiency of the treatment processes and to minimize the risk of introducing nutrients, pollutants and alien microorganisms (Smith 2000;Hughes 2003;Conlan 2004Conlan , 2010ASOC 2009;Grondahl et al 2009;Smith & Riddle 2009). Several studies have shown that discharging even low volumes of sewage may have a significant effect on the environment (ASOC 2009;Tin et al 2009).…”