60
ENVIRONMENTAL 
October 2026      AirportImprovement.com
FAR
This winter, Fargo Hector 
International Airport (FAR) in 
Fargo, ND, will begin the aircraft 
deicing season with a new system for 
collecting, holding and treating glycol 
effluent before it is released to the city’s 
nearby wastewater lagoons. 
The $13.78 million project was 
prompted by two apron expansions 
completed lasted fall: the addition of 
87,000 square feet of pavement to 
make operations at FAR’s five existing 
gates more efficient, and another 
189,000 square feet installed to serve 
four new gates that opened last spring. 
Both expansions were needed to 
accommodate the significant growth 
in traffic FAR has experienced over the 
past several years. In 2025 alone, the 
airport served 1.17 million passengers, 
surpassing its own previous record. 
The addition of so much new airside 
pavement and associated aircraft traffic 
required FAR to upgrade its storage 
and treatment infrastructure for aircraft 
deicing runoff and general stormwater 
management.
“With a project 
like this, being 
better stewards of 
the environment is 
a main objective,” 
says FAR Executive 
Director Shawn A. 
Dobberstein.  
In a nutshell, the solution developed 
by project engineer Mead & Hunt was to 
slope the pavement on the north apron 
where aircraft deicing occurs so spent 
deicing runoff drains into new collection 
and treatment infrastructure. 
Fargo Int’l Adds Underground Detention 
System for Stormwater and Spent 
Deicing Runoff
FACTS&FIGURES 
Project: Underground Detention/Treatment System for 
Stormwater & Glycol Runoff 
Location: Hector Int’l Airport in Fargo, ND
Cost: $13.78 million
Funding: 90% Airport Improvement Program & discretionary 
airport improvement grants; 5% state grants; 5% local 
(design cost covered by CARES grant)
Catalyst: Addition of 275,000 sq. ft. of apron pavement 
Project Timeline: Storage and piping installed Sept. 
2024-fall 2025; pumping station completed summer 2026
Key Components: 2,283 linear ft. of piping; steel-reinforced 
polyethylene tanks with Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition 
systems; hydrodynamic separators to pretreat runoff 
Engineer: Mead & Hunt
Underground Tanks: DuroMaxx® by Contech 
Engineered Solutions; TrueNorth Steel
Piping: Aluminized corrugated metal piping from Contech 
Engineered Solutions
Water Treatment Device: CDS® Hydrodynamic 
Separators from Contech Engineered Solutions 
Construction & Installation Contractors: KPH Inc.; 
Park Construction 
Noteworthy Challenges: Excavating through earthen 
levy to install piping; burying detention system adjacent to an 
active taxiway 
BY PAUL NOLAN
SHAWN DOBBERSTEIN

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