Advertisement

Moncton airport proposes plan to deal with de-icing runoff

Moncton airport officials have come up with a proposed plan to deal with the runoff of excess glycol, the substance used to de-ice aircraft.

The infrastructure needed for the new system could cost $12 million.

The Greater Moncton Romeo LeBlanc International Airport provides a de-icing pad for aircraft.

But some the material runs off the airfield into storm ditches and Cooks Brook, which runs through the field, said Bernard LeBlanc, airport president and CEO.

TransAqua, Greater Moncton's wastewater commission, is building a new $90 million biosolids water-treatment facility, expected to be finished in 2020.

The idea is to find a way to deal with the glycol runoff, without affecting the new wastewater system.

The proposed solution was discussed at a meeting at the airport.

Ian Bonnell/CBC News
Ian Bonnell/CBC News

Vincent Martin, the airport's director of operations, said a number of options were considered, but in the end staff came up with a plan to release the runoff into the waste-water system in a controlled way.

There would also be the option of trucking the glycol to the TransAqua facility.

"We're going to have a system of tanks, which will be separated by low concentration or high concentration, and then we will be measuring the concentration and the gallons that will be shipped out to them so we maintain a pre-arranged limit of what we can send each day," he said.

Martin said he visited an another airport that has used a similar system for four years.

It all comes down to releasing an amount of glycol the waste-treatment system can handle.

"The treatment process doesn't want a huge fluctuation either up or down, so the way the controls will be made it'll be a ramping up, and then we can discharge at a certain rate and then it will be a gradual release down," Martin said.

Solution has a price tag

Martin said the plan would require putting infrastructure in place and looking at de-icing pads large enough to support both passenger and commercial traffic.

Martin said the de-icing pads would cost $7 million, and the infrastructure needed to discharge the runoff would cost $5 million.

Ian Bonnell/CBC News
Ian Bonnell/CBC News

The plan still needs approval from the airport board of directors, and a meeting with Trans Aqua is planned.

Bernard LeBlanc said he thinks this is the right way to go.

"I think where we're at right now is a good approach that would minimize the cost, avoid getting the airport into the treatment business, which isn't our core competency, and really at the same time help Trans Aqua in their process," LeBlanc said. "So really we think this could be a really good way forward."

A lot will depend on the amount of funding available to move forward with the project, he said.