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SUSTAINABILITY 22 airportbusiness February/March 2016 By Ronnie L. Garrett Put the Brakes on Biofilm Gerald R. Ford International Airport's new $20 million water treatment facility keeps glycol from the river where it can create biofilm. Or that in the average year Gerald R. Ford International Airport uses 93,400 gallons of polypropylene glycol to deice planes leaving the Grand Rapids, Mich., facility? For years, the deicing fluid and stormwater runoff from this major airport emptied into the Trout Creek tributary of the Thornapple River. But environmental experts discovered the fluid was partially to blame for a biofilm that had developed on the surface of the water. Those are the facts that led to a new $20 million water treatment facility aimed at keeping deicing chemicals from entering the Thornapple River. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had advised the airport to develop a new water treatment plan for the deicing fluid by fall of 2015; and the airport in the interest of being a good neighbor felt the new treatment system was a worthwhile investment that protected natural resources and citizens living nearby. The majority of the funding for the $20 million project came from the FAA, which put in approximately $17.8 million. The state office of aeronautics and the airport paid for the rest. "Our goal is to first and foremost be a good neighbor to the communities that surround us. Our second goal is to do things that end up with a positive impact on the environment. The airport is going to be here for a long time," says GFIA Executive Director Brian Ryks. "The cen- terpiece of our new stormwater management program is a natural treatment system that will significantly strengthen the airport's environ- mental performance, protect and improve water D id you know that naturally occur- ring bacteria use glycol as a food substance? Natural treatment cells before vegetative cover had matured. Stage 1 and stage 2 cells with stage 3 rock lined channel.