Emissions to water and soil

Activities at airports should not result in new soil contamination or degraded water conditions. This involves continuous efforts to monitor and reduce the discharge of de-icing chemicals. The use of de-icing chemicals is essential to reduce ice and snow on aircraft and runways, ensuring that conditions comply with safety regulations. Runoff and spread of de-icing chemicals from airport areas can affect nature's buffering capacity and decomposition capacity, as both aircraft and runway de-icing chemicals require oxygen during biological decomposition. The use of de-icing chemicals at airports is continuously monitored. At airports with high consumption and sensitive recipients, mitigation measures are considered. Examples of such measures include changing snow plowing patterns, increased use of sand, transporting snow away from snow storage areas, and more use of mechanical work. The amount of de-icing chemicals used per year varies with weather and temperature conditions, as well as the total number of flights. All Avinor airports have valid discharge permits in accordance with the Pollution Control Act. These regulate the use of chemicals and set requirements for emergency preparedness in case of acute discharges, as well as environmental risk assessments. Avinor's discharge permits are available at https://www.norskeutslipp.no/ under Land-based industry – Airports. Several airports' discharge permits require extensive investigations of recipient conditions to ensure that the requirements of the Water Regulation/EU Water Framework Directive are met. Reports from conducted investigations can be found here. Avinor works to ensure that the environmental impact around airports is as low as possible. This is to be achieved through systematic work, good maintenance routines, and emergency systems.