Rogue Valley International–Medford Airport (MFR) in southwestern Oregon approached Oldcastle Infrastructure, A CRH Company, to provide a bespoke solution to their age-old problem of stormwater management. The airport was in need of an essential system upgrade and required an innovative solution that would meet stringent environmental regulations as well as a solution which would work within a moderately confined space. Oldcastle Infrastructure designed a system to do just that.
Oldcastle Infrastructure’s Boxless BioPod™ Biofiltration System with StormMix™ Media is a proprietary system that uses a combination of biofiltration media and aggregates, in horizontal layers, which treat the rainwater as it passes through. This system retains any sediment and pollution, before an underdrain carries the water to nearby waterways. At Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, this advanced biofiltration design was therefore responsible for eliminating various pollutants– typically caused by soil fertilisers and aircraft brake pads – and preventing them from contaminating the nearby community creek.
The advanced water treatment system features a proprietary StormMix™ Media, which is a specific layer of material that has been engineered to filtrate large quantities of water, caused during significant storm events, as quickly as possible. This is an important factor for airports - reducing the likelihood of any standing water in or around the airport runways, which is known to attract birds and wildlife, threatening flight safety.
This unique capacity to manage a high volume of water also allowed the airport to decommission various detention ponds on the site, diverting their flows to the new centralised BioPod™ system.
The stormwater detention and drainage solution is 70% more compact than a traditional stormwater bioswale, which means a more efficient construction process that requires less land, and thus reduced airport disruption during its installation.
In conclusion, the high impact solution achieved optimal treatment of stormwater and sediment retention at a high flowrate, exceeded the airports’ stormwater regulatory requirements, and is extremely low maintenance, which also provided economic benefits for the customer. This is another great example of how CRH is advancing innovative solutions to address global water challenges by enhancing flood resilience and improving stormwater management.
