Drinking water

Our drinking water comes from artesian wells that are 165 to 180 metres deep. We treat the water before it is used to ensure that it meets drinking water quality requirements. We also supply the drinking water to the aircrafts.

Passengers at the terminal have access to five drinking water dispensers, for use with the passengers’ own reusable bottles and thermoses.

Water-saving plumbing equipment has been installed in all the toilets of the terminal, to reduce water consumption.

Wastewater

On the premises of the airport, rainwater is collected via the rainwater collection system, where it is treated to separate oil products and then discharged into drainage ditches. From the drainage ditches, the water flows into the Neriņa River and Lake Babīte, the largest body of water near the airport. To ensure the quality of the rainwater discharged, we regularly carry out checks to ensure that its quality meets all regulatory requirements.

Eight monitoring wells have been set up to monitor the quality and pollution of groundwater:

  • three wells are located at the company’s fuel station;
  • five wells are placed along the runway.

Monitoring the condition of the soil and groundwater makes it possible to detect pollution early and contain it.

Contaminated areas

Three contaminated areas and two potentially contaminated areas* have been at the site of the airport and its immediate vicinity since the Soviet era. These sites contained military chemical storage tanks for the storage and transhipment of various petroleum products. When the tanks and facilities were being dismantled during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, the petroleum products leaked into the ground, contaminating the soil and the groundwater.

The airport and the companies located on its premises have done a detailed study of historical pollution, assessing the nature of the spread and the level of pollution. The results of the study enable the necessary clean-up to be carried out using the available resources.

* SLLC ‘Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre’: ‘Register of contaminated and potentially contaminated sites’