Water treatment at Ivalo Airport improves

The northernmost airport in Finland paid special attention to the protection of the Ivalojoki River.

As a part of Finavia’s 55-million-euro investment in connectivity and tourism in Lapland, Ivalo Airport has undergone an extensive renovation to expand the terminal and add space for aircraft, said a press release of Finavia, the company that operates the country's airports.

As a part of the renovation works, the water treatment at the airport has been improved. The treatment of storm waters with de-icing liquids was improved at the new aircraft parking spaces, and an area with structures was built to protect the soil from glycerol-containing melting snow.

“As part of the apron expansion, we built a new type of glycol water collection system. We collect as much glycol used in de-icing as we can with this new system, to prevent it from streaming to the near-by waters,” said Ivalo Airport Manager Jarmo Pyhäjärvi.

There’s a 50-cube buffer container in the glycol water collection system into which all the new apron’s de-icing water is channelled. Any water containing glycol will be further channelled to the local wastewater cleaning system.

The new double-water system measures the water’s glycol concentration with sensors installed in the wells. When the water is clean enough, it is channelled back to soil through the storm water treatment system.

The aim of glycol collection is to prevent it from getting into soil and, hence, to Ivalojoki River’s draining system. The new collection system improves Ivalo Airport’s water management.

“The final instalments of the system were done last summer, and this winter we will get actual user experience. Glycol snow will still be collected from the old aircraft parking space to prevent it from getting to the drainage system,” said Pyhäjärvi.

Constant quality control forms an essential part of Ivalo Airport water treatment. As the sub-zero weather lasts longer in the North, and there are more flights in the winter, de-icing liquids are used for a longer period than in Southern Finland.

“Snow is a nice element which we prefer to the cold rain showers – and it’s also a lot easier to remove than water,” said Pyhäjärvi.