While the mainstream media remains fixated about whether U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014, we at FlightLines remained focused on the continuing saga of the “Poo Pond” at Kandahar Airfield, which was supposed to be closed a long time ago.
Last September, it appeared the foul-smelling lagoon would finally be drained, but then officials said it would have to remain open through at least mid-2013.
Once again, it looks like the famous cesspool cannot go quietly into that good night.
“With respect to the Pooh Pond, the work to remediate the site has been contracted but execution of this work has been suspended while the construction of additional grease handling facilities are ongoing (estimated completion of that work December 2013),” Aires Reis, of NATO Support Agency, said in an email. “The decision to execute the remediation work rests with the NATO Military Authority at KAF [Kandahar Airfield].”
The origins of the Poo Pond are unknown. Rumor has it that it dates back to Alexander the Great, but recently discovered paintings from the Cro-Magnon era suggest that visitors from another world may have taught ancient civilizations how to build massive cesspools.
4 Comments
I’m a layman when it comes to human waste disposal, but couldn’t they have treated it like a septic tank and use large amounts of Rid-X or something like that?
The massive population of tapeworms that inhabit the pond might fight back. I’m sure contingency planning for that is what’s holding this up.
Clint, if you’d ever experienced the majesty of Poo Pond you’d know that no mere septic tank could ever cope with that quantity of…. material.
Also, given the bizarrely high percentage of IDF attacks that seem to end up hitting the Pond, I’d say tapeworms would be the least of their worries!
So why don’t they take a European approach and use all waste as fertilizer?