The Trifacta

Today I got to visit the Trifacta, or the waste, power and water plants. They are located within short walking distance of each other and filled with large, loud equipment that are the heart and blood of McMurdo.

Our first stop was the waste plant, which is completely eco/green. They break down all the matter using microorganisms and everything is cleaned and purified naturally without the use of chemicals. The best way to describe it is the plant has an identical eco-system to that of a swamp land where it is a cycle of cleaning and purging.

We got to see the beginning where all the waste is broken down, purified, and then separated into different matter. We even went to the cake room, where the dry matter is boxed and shipped out.

It is high nutrient fertilizer that they used to give to farmers in the states for free until they passed a law that it was considered foreign matter and toxic (it has a toxic rating of .001% (cleaning supplies have higher ratings) and foreign because we eat produce from New Zealand ) and now it is simply dumped in a fill site in Port Hueneme, California. Does this make sense to anyone?

The waste plant has a constant temperature of 85 degrees (guess where I'll be visiting during the winter) and the hottest room on station. With a sweltering 114 degrees, the generator room is loud, hot and a beast that keeps us from trudging through our own sludge.

Our guide was great, full of information and utterly saintly with patience as we asked question after question. He even showed us the microscopic workers of waste under the microscope.

One interesting fact that I learned is that the body cannot break down tomato seeds so they pass right through and often in the "cake" boxes tomato plants sprout up. He even had one growing in his office, a sort of pet plant. It was wonderful to see something green and natural growing down here. But shhhhh, we don't want word getting out and then it suddenly disappearing.

Oh, the soil it is potted in is "cake" material, or fecal matter that has been purified, processed and stripped of most of the moisture matter so it can be shipped back to the states. Notice any difference than fertilizer?

Next stop was the power plant where our guide Chris explained about the wind turbans and how much power they generated along with the five fuel generators that we have.

Generators in the yellow room

McMurdo normally runs on three to four generators but can back up to five if needed. The system is fully computer-matic to the point that if one generator shuts down, the system will automatically start another generator while notifying the tech of the problem. We had one generator catch fire during which resulted in a station wide power outage, while the computer tried to start another generator which did not want to walk from it's slumber. The room was basically a large fuse panel with buttons that could knock out the power to individual buildings or centers.

I made the mistake of almost leaning against the wall, and he lunged at me yelling "Don't do that!" Apparently I was going to bump into the button that turned the power off to the science lab and could have killed years of testing in the press of a button. I stood statue still the rest of the tour not wanting to cause a massive black out. Leave it to me to wipe out the McMurdo population with a bump of a button. Needless to say I was releaved when we left and moved on to the water plant, and Mr. Friendly himself, Paul.

All our water comes from the ocean here and is processed, reverse osmosis style. Paul, who is a sweet wonderful man with a smile always on his face, explained how the process worked, of filling one tank of water, processing another, draining and using one.

Osmosis Filter (way larger than the one back home)

He told us about how all the excess salt that is pulled out of the water, is actually pumped back into the sea with the extra water they bring in. I asked if that effects the marine life and he told me it is such a small amount that it is hardly noticed.

The whole one and half hour tour of all three facilities really opened my eyes to the behind the scenes workings of the station and how running out of food is not as serious as back up of feces or the outage of power. Or if we were to run out of water for that matter. Everything depends on everything else, and at times like this I am glad to know I only have to depend on one thing. And he is perfect, powerful and in control of all. What a relief, and here I was worried when the power went out, or the heat shut. Oh ye of little faith, only while in Antarctica do I realize how little we can do on our on. Thank you Lord for allowing us to live here, in the harshest place on your creation. How wonderful Eden must have been if this is the polar opposite.