Airports are a big business with landing fees, fuel fees, baggage fees, and more. The airlines that operate there know it, with the more gates they control, the more passengers they serve, and the more revenue they generate. Take O’Hare National Airport in Chicago, for instance. United is the airport’s biggest airline, followed by American; they invest billions of dollars via revenue agreements to fund the construction projects to expand the terminal gate capacity.
“Ultimately, it’s a revenue stream for them,” says Carl Wootten, Vice President of Business Development for Excel Fluid Group. “It’s in their best interest to invest in infrastructure to improve the passenger’s experience.”
But not all of that infrastructure is visible to passengers. Behind the scenes, airports face pumping challenges that are unique to aviation. In addition to the general sanitary wastewater, unlike most facilities, airports produce waste that needs special handling. Glycol run-off from deicing, firefighting foam containing forever chemicals (PFAS), and runway stormwater can’t drain on their own. Each waste stream requires its own pumping solution.
Airports need pump stations for several reasons. Here are the five most common ones, each of which EFG has a solution for.
The dry wells on-site sat 25-30 feet underground. Any time they needed to be serviced or visually inspected, a technician had to descend a ladder to complete the task—this is also known as a confined space entry.
“Confined space entries are hazardous, musty, and wet,” Wootten says. “We worked with Dayton International Airport to eliminate below grade confined space entry through our packaged pump station design.”
The project, which involved five pump stations in total, was completed in 2021 and eliminated confined space entry completely.
The wastewater generated from Concourses D and E will flow into an 11 ft. diameter by 45 ft. deep HDPE wet well with a separate 11 ft. diameter by 10 ft. valve vault. Packaged complete with a channel grinder, the solution allows for a 3rd Party P.E. certified pump station with a faster installation, and a more robust long term solution.
“From a designer and contractor’s perspective, prepackaged pump station solutions are really the most efficient way to go,” says Shawn Gould P.E., Aviation Department Manager for HNTB. “It’s a one-stop shop. All the components are pre-fitted to work together, so it makes the designer’s life easier and ensures you have a fully functioning system.”
The new Satellite Concourse D project is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2028. It is one of several infrastructure investments at O’Hare, with multiple stormwater and sanitary wastewater pump stations currently in design and construction planned for next spring.
“If there’s a fire in the hangar, the foam suppression system from the ceiling goes off and puts the fire out,” Wootten says. “When they spray the foam, which can be between six to 10 feet thick, it breaks down and goes into a containment lift station or sump.”
The foam is then pumped into a truck and transported to another treatment facility. This prevents PFAS from contaminating the groundwater, which can cause a multitude of other problems.
“This deice pad extension helped aircraft get to their destinations more efficiently during winter weather as it could accommodate more planes simultaneously." Wootten says. "It removed the deicing operation from the terminal gates, eliminating congestion, accelerating aircraft turnaround times, and incorporating specialized drainage infrastructure to capture and recycle glycol-based deicing fluids."
The deiced water runoff is then pumped to an existing diversion structure on site. Designed for a 10 year winter storm, the pumps were rated for 3.6 MGD.
From replacing aging infrastructure to managing stormwater and containing fire suppression foam, the pump station challenges airports face are rarely simple. Each application comes with its own regulatory requirements, site constraints, and operational demands.
For EFG, that’s the whole point, their process doesn’t change. From design through installation to ongoing service, they serve as a single point of accountability for every project. They deliver packaged pumping systems for airports - sanitary, stormwater, and glycol recovery - with proven installations at major hubs and regional airports. They've supported aviation engineering teams with early design assistance, application expertise, and phased based approach that reduces risk and ensures compliance with FAA 150/5320-15A requirements in active airport environments.