b'64 PSCENVIRONMENTAL Tri-Cities Airport Puts Worms to Work to Treat Deicing Wastewater BY JENNIFER DAACK WOOLSONThe early bird gets the worm andA Needed Change dont open a can of worms areBuck Taft, director at PSC, explains familiar phrases. Well, heres athat the airports previous wastewater FACTS&FIGURESnew one for you: The worm ate my glycol.management It applies at Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) insystem collected Project: Trial of Worm-Powered Treatment for DeicingPasco, WA. In a unique twist, the airportwastewater from its Wastewateris partnering with a wastewater treatmenttwo deicing pads Location: Tri-Cities Airport, in Pasco, WA company to conduct an eco-friendly pilotin a 30,000-gallon System: BIDA (Biodynamic Aerobic), from BioFiltroprogram that uses worms to treat deicingstorage tank. Once Test Site: 90 sq. ft., inside 20- by 8-foot shipping container wastewater from its airfield. The innovativethe tank filled to a Strategy: Woodchip filter inoculated with composting worms system from BioFiltro removes harmfulspecified level, fluidBUCK TAFTTreatment Capacity: 200 gallons of glycol discharge/daysubstances like ethylene glycol andwas discharged into propylene glycol so wastewater can safelythe Pasco Wastewater Treatment Facility Cost: $5,600/month for trial; cost for full-scale systembe discharged into the citys system. for freean arrangement made before associated with $2.5 million deicing pad expansion in 2026 isPSCs significant increase in airline activity. expected to be lower As the third-largest commercial airport Funding: FAA; Port of Pasco in Washington state, PSC has beenWhen the associated increase of deicingApril 2024-April 2025 experiencing increased airline activity,wastewater containing high levels of Trial Timeline: biological oxygen demand (BOD) started to Facility Owner/Operator: Port of Pasco making it more critical than ever tooverload the municipal system, city leaders Design: Mead & Hunt; BioFiltro address a variety of environmental issues.asked the airport to make a change. Managing wastewater from aircraft deicing Key Benefit: Treatment reduces biochemical oxygenoperations during winters is one of theTaft learned about BioFiltro, a wastewater demand of spent aircraft deicing runoff to allow discharge tomost pressing on its list.treatment company based in Davis, CA, local wastewater treatment plantMarch | April 2025AirportImprovement.com'