NFTA Engineered Wetlands

Overview

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) is a multi-modal agency providing service to the Western New York region.  The NFTA is the operator of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BNIA) located within the Town of Cheektowaga, NY.  The airport is employing an environmental friendly approach to collecting and treating propylene glycol used for deicing aircraft through the use of Engineered Wetlands.  The treatment system utilizes natural wetland processes, the treatment actually occurs within aerated gravel beds topped with mulch and plantings. 

Unique Features –

• Emerging Technology - The engineered wetlands are an emerging technology for use on airports in the treatment of deicing fluids.  The use of engineered wetlands is more common in waste water treatment and in Europe, but the Buffalo installation is one of the first projects in the United States to use this technology for on-site treatment of deicing fluids.

• Passive Treatment System – The treatment occurs through an automated operations system.  Though airfield operations personnel will need to monitor and adjust the system periodically, a full time operator is not required.

• Redesign of Stormwater Management System – By redefining the operations of the site storm system to utilize numerous resources, new storage was not needed to accommodate both First Flush collection and flood protection storage.

As of the 2014/2015 deicing season the system has treated over approximately 513.4 million gallons of stormwater removing over 5.0 million pounds of glycol measured as total organic carbon (TOC) from the airports stormwater system.