Airport_Business_December2019-January2020 - 17

ARFF
runoff/wastewater from training events
or live fire events to the greatest extent
possible.
* Make note of sensitive receptors (for
example, streams, lakes, homes, areas
served by wells) identified in the vicinity
of foam use and report to environmental
agencies as required.

Alternatives to
traditional AFFF
Congress is urging the FAA to allow
airports to use PFAS-free foams. However,
the FAA has been slow to respond and a
timeline for action is unclear. Alternatives
are described in two categories,
fluorinated foams and fluorine-free foams.
While some fluorine-free foams are being
used in Europe, England and Australia,
there are currently no f luorine-free
foams that meet specifications for use in
emergency response at North American
airports. All of the 27 major Australian
airports have transitioned to fluorine-free
firefighting foams, as have the following

major hub airports: Dubai, Dortmund,
Stuttgart, London Heathrow, Gatwick,
Edinburgh, Manchester, London City,
Leeds-Bradford, Copenhagen and
Auckland, and elsewhere in Europe such
as Billund, Guernsey, Bristol, Blackpool,
and Koln-Bonn.
United States and pursuant to the
Canadian Environmental Protection
Act, North American manufacturers
have changed their AFFF formulations
so that they are free of PFOS and
PFOA which at this point are believed
to be two of the most prevalent and
potentially problematic PFAS. Current
AFFF formulations in North America
now contain other PFAS, which are
thought to present less human health
or environmental risk, but there are
limited studies that have evaluated the
behavior of these PFAS and the potential
risks they pose to human health or the
environment. However, it is known that
the "replacement PFAS" in AFFF (often
referred to as "short-chain PFAS") are

more likely to be found in aqueous phases
(i.e., water), whereas "long-chain" PFAS
like PFOS and PFOA, don't migrate as
far in the soil.
While current AFFF formulations
do not contain PFOA or PFOS, many
of those older formulations still exist
because they have long shelf-lives and
were purchased before those compounds
were phased out. Past f iref ighting,
training, equipment maintenance
and storage practices at Airports have
left behind years of built up legacy
contamination, the extent of which is
only being determined now. Although
advances have been made in risk
management strategies and remediation
technologies, research to identify
applicable, cost-effective approaches
to managing the impacts of AFFF and
related PFAS at airports is ongoing. 

PROTERRA® ELECTRIC BUSES
ARE TAKING OFF AT AIRPORTS
From California to New York, airports across the country are making
the shift to 100% battery-electric bus fleets with Proterra.

Join the growing list of Proterra airport partners:
JFK International Airport * Raleigh-Durham International Airport * Newark International Airport
San Francisco International Airport * San Jose International Airport * LaGuardia Airport
Honolulu International Airport * Charlotte Douglas International Airport * Sacramento International Airport

proterra.com/airports

AviationPros.com/12361063

DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020 \ AVIATIONPROS.COM / 17
http://www.proterra.com/airports http://www.AviationPros.com/12361063 http://www.AVIATIONPROS.COM
Airport_Business_December2019-January2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Airport_Business_December2019-January2020
