The men's urinals are water-free toilets. The sit-down toilets are low volume-per-flush, I expect.
Water isn't exactly rationed -- people are just asked to minimize.
To be clear, there is a LOT of water (the station sits atop two miles/3km of the purest ice). What's really being rationed is energy, which is very, very expensive there (the rough calculation I've heard is 10x non-Ice prices, others would know better).
Interesting information, thank you! This was exactly what I was wondering about.
The only part I'm struggling with a bit with is "10x non-ice prices". What does this mean? Are you able to indulge me in additional explanation? Thanks again.
The whole station runs on jet fuel (AN-8 kerosene) which is hauled inland from the coast. In the past this was done by aircraft, which emptied their tanks, but now it's mostly done using the South Pole Overland Traverse (SPOT). It takes about a month to get to the Pole this way, so you're paying for a tractor train plus staff and maintenance costs for at least two months (out and back). The alternative is paying for a lot of flying hours which is also expensive. There are now at least two traverses each summer. So the cost of the fuel is mostly in the cost of transportation i.e. very high.
The generators are actually quite efficient. Water is heated as a byproduct of electricity production. I think it's by recovering heat from the engine exhaust.
Water isn't exactly rationed -- people are just asked to minimize.
To be clear, there is a LOT of water (the station sits atop two miles/3km of the purest ice). What's really being rationed is energy, which is very, very expensive there (the rough calculation I've heard is 10x non-Ice prices, others would know better).