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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/12/kandahar-airfield-poo-pond-mission
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| Kandahar's 'poo pond' gets a stay of execution | Kandahar's 'poo pond' gets a stay of execution |
| (4 months later) | |
| The so-called "poo pond" at Kandahar airfield is one of the few parts of the US and Nato mission in Afghanistan that everyone agreed should go as soon as possible. | The so-called "poo pond" at Kandahar airfield is one of the few parts of the US and Nato mission in Afghanistan that everyone agreed should go as soon as possible. |
| A lake of sewage sitting on the indisputably grim-looking intersection of All-American Boulevard and Louisiana Road, it holds the waste produced by 30,000 people using hundreds of portable toilets. | A lake of sewage sitting on the indisputably grim-looking intersection of All-American Boulevard and Louisiana Road, it holds the waste produced by 30,000 people using hundreds of portable toilets. |
| There are few places on the sprawling military camp where the desert wind doesn't carry an occasional whiff of its contents, and locals and soldiers alike were looking forward to the day the smell would finally be removed. | There are few places on the sprawling military camp where the desert wind doesn't carry an occasional whiff of its contents, and locals and soldiers alike were looking forward to the day the smell would finally be removed. |
| But plans to drain it this autumn have fallen apart. | But plans to drain it this autumn have fallen apart. |
| "Although the description of its smell can never be over-exaggerated, reports of malodorous Poo Pond's demise were premature," Sgt 1st Class Erick Studenicka wrote in a detailed report on the halt in plans to drain the giant cesspit. | "Although the description of its smell can never be over-exaggerated, reports of malodorous Poo Pond's demise were premature," Sgt 1st Class Erick Studenicka wrote in a detailed report on the halt in plans to drain the giant cesspit. |
| "It continues to receive Kandahar airfield's commercial kitchen grease and cooking-oil waste as well as the waste material from the airfield's 1,800 portable toilets." | "It continues to receive Kandahar airfield's commercial kitchen grease and cooking-oil waste as well as the waste material from the airfield's 1,800 portable toilets." |
| Nato and US forces have poured millions into a waste-water treatment plant for the base, even though they may leave the Kandahar airfield entirely within little more than two years, according to a report on troop reductions in the LA Times. | Nato and US forces have poured millions into a waste-water treatment plant for the base, even though they may leave the Kandahar airfield entirely within little more than two years, according to a report on troop reductions in the LA Times. |
| But a unit needed to separate out cooking grease and oil will not be ready until at least the middle of next year, the report said, and the plant, which was only built to handle waste-water from 25,000 people, is struggling with sewage from 30,000. As a result, "the poo pond's life has been extended". | But a unit needed to separate out cooking grease and oil will not be ready until at least the middle of next year, the report said, and the plant, which was only built to handle waste-water from 25,000 people, is struggling with sewage from 30,000. As a result, "the poo pond's life has been extended". |
| "If the number of residents on Kandahar airfield drops early next year and the mechanical grease separator is installed, it's likely the residents on Kandahar airfield in spring will witness the end of an era – the long-awaited closure of the poo pond around mid-2013." | "If the number of residents on Kandahar airfield drops early next year and the mechanical grease separator is installed, it's likely the residents on Kandahar airfield in spring will witness the end of an era – the long-awaited closure of the poo pond around mid-2013." |
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