Impact of Water Quality During Airport Operations (De-Icing & Anti-Icing)

Impact of Water Quality During Airport Operations (De-Icing & Anti-Icing)

There are many environmental impacts from day to day airport operations. A few examples are noise pollution, air pollution, and water quality issues. Out of the three, I think that water quality issues are of greatest concern. 

Water quality issues that come about during airport operations usually result from airport construction and renovation, airfield deicing and anti-icing, fuel storage and refueling, aircraft, and vehicle cleaning and maintenance. Such activities require the use of chemicals and when such chemicals are disposed of without controls in place, they pose a threat to the nation’s water quality due to its high toxic levels. As all living things depend on water to survive, the contamination of water can heavily affect human and animal life. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2012), de-icers and anti-icers are one of the greatest threats to water quality when dumped without regulation. They can cause algae to grow too quickly, smothering other aquatic organisms in the water. The abrasive de-icers impact water quality by adding sediments and increasing the cloudiness in bodies of water and produce strong odors that can affect human health. Such experiences were traced back to multiple airports like Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, making this threat very real (EPA, 2012).

 

As there is not much control on the amount or type of deicing and anti-icing agents used in airports, the environmental impact airport deicing has caused in the past is not small. Therefore, I would like to look at a strategy that could control the usage of hazardous anti-icing and deicing solutions used during airport operations.

For a start, the FAA could work with the EPA to find out which chemicals in deicing and anti-icing solutions are most toxic to the environment and try to enforce a regulation to reduce its use at airports. Airport operators could also follow the existing discharge regulations and have procedures on how to handle spills, in case the deicing tanks encounter a spill.

Overall, I think these strategies would help lessen the negative environmental impact of such chemicals used at the airport. I am a huge believer of the phrase, “Prevention is better than cure.” When there is the less frequent use of toxic chemicals, there will be less toxic discharge, and thus, the risk of water contamination during chemical discharge decreases. Additionally, if there are measures put in place to control the concentration of toxic chemicals used, research organizations would be pushed to innovate and develop new deicing and anti-icing solutions that would serve the airport and the environment better. 

Word Count: 420

References:
EPA. (2012). Environmental Impact and Benefit Assessment for the Final Effluent Limitation Guidelines and Standards for the Airport Deicing Category [PDF]. Retrieved 26 September 2020, from https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/airport-deicing_environmental-impact-and-benefit-assessment-final-2012.pdf.

Visser, H., & Wijnen, R. (2008). Management of the environmental impact at airport operations. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu