Showers

You might have heard rumors that shower time at South Pole station is restricted. That is absolutely true! But not just at the Pole, but also at McMurdo.

McMurdo, however, has its own wastewater treatment facility, and they get their water from the ocean (which is then desalinated). So their restrictions of water usage for showers is not too bad: 4 showers a week per person, with each shower not longer than 5 minutes. When I heard that at the briefing in McMurdo, I was quite happy, because I can live with 5 minute showers. No problem.

At the Pole, things are different, though. Here all the water for the whole facility has to be melted from snow and ice. And for that process you need a lot of energy, which is taken from aviation fuel, the only fuel that is not frozen here at the South Pole. That means water is treated here as an extremely valuable resource. And the shower times are even further restricted: 2 showers per week per person, with each shower not longer than 2 minutes! That is super, super short! As far as I understood, every second in which the water runs out of the shower head is counted. So if you shut the water off for applying soap, you can actually drag your shower time out to maybe four to five minutes! I had my first shower since Christchurch tonight, and I can tell you that this was quite an experience. You should try it out! Only two minutes of running water for your next shower. :)