Water protection

Water, as understood by the water law, includes all surface waters and the ground water. It is one of our company's important goals to protect these waters while operating the airport, as they are the basis of the existence of plants and animals.

Rainwater utilisation

A rainwater utilisation plant commenced operation in 2001, when the new Dresden Airport Terminal was opened. Rainwater from about 5 ha roof surfaces is collected in tanks and supplied to the consumers all over the airport premises. This water replaces valuable drinking water for toilet flushing, in air conditioning systems, as fire water, for sewer cleaning and to water the green areas.

Waste water

Dresden Airport has a separate system for sewage and rainwater collection and is linked to the public sewage system of the City of Dresden. Domestic sewage is produced in the public areas and office buildings of the airport. Waste water from kitchens, workshops and the vehicle washing plant is pre-treated before it is discharged into the sewage system.

The waste water pumped off the aircraft mainly consists of faeces. Such waste water is separated from solid matter in a pre-treatment plant and also discharged into the public sewage system. The final treatment of this waste water is performed at the municipal sewage works in Dresden-Kaditz.

Rainwater

Dresden Airport is situated on an elevated plateau. The rainwater drains off to the catchment area of Schelsbach, Seifenbach, Promnitz and Ruhlandgraben streams. Considering that the sealed surface area amounts to about 90 ha, rainwater utilisation is of great importance.

The rainwater is collected in drainage systems and is either discharged directly into the streams mentioned above or into the municipal rainwater collector, or it simply seeps away. The quality of the collected rainwater depends mainly on the usage of the surfaces, including roofs, parking spaces, roads, the apron, runways and taxiways. Rainwater retention reservoirs in all catchment areas aim to deliver the collected water into the surrounding streams in well-dosed quantities.

There are special requirements for the prevention of accidents in the rainwater drainage process. The tank farm surfaces, for example, are connected to the drainage system through a system of light oil traps, retention tanks and gate valves for safety reasons. All storage areas for substances hazardous to waters, such as diesel, de-icing agents and fire extinguishing agents, fulfil the strict requirements of the environmental law. Surface water from the apron, where the aircraft are handled and fuelled, must also pass through clarification tanks before discharge. The airport fire brigade has a special implement truck in permanent stand-by service to prevent oil from leaching away if the fuelling equipment is faulty. In an emergency, the entire drainage system for the runways and manoeuvring surfaces can be shut off. Polluted water will in such cases be retained in backwater channels and can be disposed of properly, depending on the results of sample tests.

Water drained off the runways and manoeuvring surfaces, which amount to about 60 ha, may contain de-icing agent in winter if temperatures are very low, because both aircraft and concrete surfaces are de-iced using chemical substances. The sparing use of de-icers and the use of less harmful substances are measures which help to reduce water pollution levels. For example, the condition of the runway is permanently monitored by a black ice early warning system. This allows to apply surface de-icers preventively and thus to reduce the required quantities.

The operational measures are supplemented by technical measures: The quality of the run-off water is tested and the levels in the backwater channels are measured by an automated process control system. If conductivity or TOC (total organic carbon) content limits are exceeded in one of the online measuring points, automatically controlled rainwater gates deliver the rainwater which is polluted with de-icers into the sewer for treatment in the sewage works.