Research stations in Antarctica are sullying the pristine environment by improperly disposing of sewage waste, reports a study published this month in Polar Research. Twenty-eight countries have a total of total of 82 research stations in the Earth’s southern-most landmass, and “they need to take action to prevent the release of microorganisms to the Antarctic environment,” said Fredrik Gröndahl of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, who led the study.

“It’s phenomenally expensive to do anything down there,” says Gröndahl. “But if we want to preserve Antarctica as pristine as possible, we need to take [on] the costs.”

Posted at The Scientist by Alla Katsnelson at 14th August 2009 03:51 PM GMT
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