In the West, tap water and flush toilets are the norm. But in order to have those things, you need the infrastructure - including water mains, sewers and treatment plants. In much of Afghanistan these things simply don't exist.

So when the Dutch began to build Kamp Holland - the army base in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan - in addition to all the other challenges of building a compound where thousands of soldiers live and work, they also had to find a way to deal with mountains of human waste and grey water.

In the end, the Dutch chose a combination of three systems that use various natural bacteria and bio chemicals to process the waste from the camp.

It may not be pretty (or smell pretty!), but it works. Which means that, at least for the Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan, tap water and flush toilets are still the norm.