Area-Wide Establishment of a Stormwater Management Plan for Wing Locations across the Canadian Forces

摘要

In accordance with environmental requirements and the operational framework within the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Air Force was proactive in establishing an area-wide initiative with respect to stormwater management at its Wing (Base) locations across Canada. This study incorporated nine (9) Air Force Establishments (Wings) across Canada spanning seven (7) provinces. This paper outlines the key steps involved in characterizing and implementing such an initiative within a large organisational structure at the Federal level of governance, at multiple locations, taking into consideration many relevant and key factors. The Royal Military College (RMC) Green Team within the Civil Engineering Department at RMC was retained by the Canadian Air Force in order to investigate and implement this program. An overarching Federal policy document was created taking into consideration the strictest of governmental laws, codes and guidelines. Good neighbour policies were adopted as the most stringent of these guidelines - at all levels of government (Federal, Provincial, Municipal) -were used for compliance purposes. Furthermore, the scope of this stormwater management plan (which incorporates an effluent management plan) was to standardize these practices amongst all the Canadian Forces Wings across Canada in order to minimize the risk of discharging contaminated storm water from base infrastructure and properties or airfields into local surface water bodies or other potential sources of migration paths. Potential sources of storm water pollutants within Air Force Wings include: construction sites, contaminated sites, landfills, waste, storage areas, and waste handling procedures as well as specific activities associated with airfield operations such as de-icing, refuelling, Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) for fire fighting, chemical treatments applied to runways, including rubber removal agents, spills leaks and overflowing fluids and equipment maintenance. The model stormwater management plan incorporated national and international best practices in terms of stormwater management and relevant findings from specific Wing locations in order to highlight the pertinent and influencing factors.