Up-Flo® Filter enables a growing civil-military airport to increase stormwater treatment without resorting to ponds that would encourage birds, which would pose a risk to aviation.

Situation

Dane County Regional Airport, Wisconsin, had undertaken a series of expansion projects to meet the demands of over 1.6 million passengers on more than 100 flights a day.

One project, involving rebuilding an access road and resurfacing 5.3 acres of parking, necessitated an upgrade to the airport's stormwater management system.

Problem

The airport needed to meet the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource’s (DNR) goal of treating 40% of the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) generated by runoff from impervious surfaces without creating any standing water.

The airport would have expanded their existing pond, but to have done so could have attracted large water birds, and the proximity of those birds to runways would have posed a danger to aircraft.

Solution

The airport and its consulting engineer on the project, GRAEF, reviewed several filtration systems before choosing the Up-Flo® Filter stormwater treatment system.

Outcome

Using real rainfall data from Madison Airport, the WinSLAMM Source Loading and Management software program was used to generate probability distributions of flows that were expected from the 5.3 acre site. 

Performance data of the Up-Flo® Filter was applied to the rainfall analysis and runoff distribution curves to demonstrate compliance with the State’s goal of 40% TSS reduction.

The device chosen was the most economical option and solved an issue that the Wisconsin DNR had with the additional parking areas the airport had planned for the desired growth of business," said Ed Premo, Construction Engineer, GRAEF, "The pond and adjacent storm sewer emptying in Starkweather Creek are free of sediment, and to this date the maintenance has been very minimal.