Technical Report No. 153
WATER QUALITY OF AIRPORT STORM RUNOFF PHASE II
Gordon L. Dugan
May 1983
ABSTRACT
The quality of natural and induced storm water runoff from several smaller public airports in Hawaii (air traffic volume of approximately 130 to over 350 airplanes per day) was compared to results from the previous Phase I study of the Honolulu International Airport that handles daily nearly 900 airplanes. The mean annual rainfall at these airports ranges from approximately 381 mm (15 in.) to nearly 3 251 mm (128 in.). Two basic storm quality monitoring schemes were incorporated, the wet season and the dry season. The wet season monitoring involved collecting storm runoff samples from paved surfaces during and following rainfall events at a specific airport. The dry season monitoring scheme consisted of enclosing a 0.25-m2 (2.69-ft2 ) area, applying deionized water, and then collecting the wash water, leached chemicals, and sediments by a hand bilge pump. As was the case for the storm runoff quality from the previous study of the Honolulu International Airport, the runoff from the smaller airports also contained mercury and turbidity that significantly exceeded the primary drinking water regulations, while concentrations of phenol and carbon chloroform extract definitely indicated that petroleum-derived products would be too high-and expensive to remove-for consideration as an alternate drinking water supply. However, the water, if collected and stored, could serve as a source of subpotable water.