New technology will turn human waste at one of Australia's Antarctic stations into 'drinkable-quality' water — but there are 'no plans' to serve it up to the humans just yet.

While the end result is "drinkable-quality" water, there are "no current plans" for human consumption. ( Supplied )

The $1.5 million "state-of-the-art" technology will "use germ-zapping technologies to process wastewater into drinkable-quality water that will have minimal impact on the marine environment when it's discharged into the ocean," the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) said.

In 2005, equipment at Davis, 4,800 kilometres south-west of Hobart, failed.

Up until 2015, macerated effluent was discharged to the ocean from a pipe at the water's edge near the station's wharf.

While that disposal method met Antarctic Treaty environmental protocols, an environmental impact assessment revealed the effluent was "poorly dispersed" during the three-month period of the study, resulting in an "accumulation of faecal contaminants, heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants … and the exposure of seals and penguins to high levels of faecal bacteria".

In 2015, AAD installed a secondary treatment plant which further improved the quality of the output.

However, "low levels of human-derived faecal contaminants were detected in sediments up to two kilometres in the direction of the main current flow," AAD said in 2016.

"Sewage markers were also detected in two predatory sea-floor animals — a snail and fish — suggesting that some contaminants were entering the marine food chain."

The new 'germ-zapping' technology will be in place in late 2018. ( AAD/Glenn Jacobson )

Michael Packer, the project engineer with AAD, said the process involved wastewater undergoing a series of "physical and chemical processes to produce the purest water possible".

"The contaminated water, which is first treated by a secondary wastewater treatment plant, will undergo ozone and ultraviolet disinfection, ultrafiltration, chlorination and pass through a biological activated carbon filter and reverse osmosis," he said.

"The end product will be water that exceeds the Australian and World Health Organisation drinking water guidelines."

Between 2005 and 2015, macerated human waste was discharged into the ocean. ( Australian Antarctic Division/David Barringhaus )

'Beautiful snow' preferred option for drinking water

While there were "no current plans to use the purified water" for human consumption, the new technology would "ensure the water we discharge into the marine environment has a negligible impact," Dr Rob Wooding, AAD's general manager of support and operations, said.

"We have beautiful snow down there that we can make very high-quality drinking water out of," Dr Wooding said.

"However, over time, we will need water for washing and other purposes."

The new wastewater treatment technology has been trialled at TasWater's Selfs Point site in Hobart over the past two years and will travel to Davis research station on the icebreaker Aurora Australis this summer, with commissioning scheduled for late 2018.

People working at Australia's Antarctic stations are told "if you are out in the field, you are required to bring back all solid human waste", which is burnt in a high temperature incinerator known as "Warren".

More of the new wastewater plants will be installed at Australia's other Antarctic stations "in the future", AAD said.