Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) in India says it has achieved a significant milestone on its sustainability journey by becoming 100% water positive. This means the airport replenishes more water than it consumes.
“This is a significant milestone for us at [airport operator] BIAL. We are proud to announce that our water stewardship has created a sustainable future for the region by achieving water positivity,” said Hari Marar, MD and CEO, BIAL.
“We accomplished this by consuming water responsibly, reusing, recycling and replenishing water bodies. At BIAL, our holistic sustainability efforts are not just focused on the airport, but also on the community at large. We hope our actions will inspire others in the region to follow.”
The roadmap to achieving water positivity at BLR Airport was based on surveys, research and garnering expert opinions. The airport requires millions of liters of water for the maintenance of infrastructure and operations. Instead of relying on municipal water supply to meet the daily water requirement, BIAL initiated a series of initiatives aimed at improving water resources by way of ground recharge, lake recharge and an integrated management of liquid and solid waste, therefore avoiding the contamination of ground water.
A Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with a 2.5-million liters per day (MLD) capacity was developed to recycle water, which is now used for landscape irrigation, ventilation and air conditioning and firefighting requirements. BIAL has also deployed multiple types of equipment to improve water usage efficiency across the facility. With an aim to avoid water wastage across the campus, drains were built to direct excess water flow to Bettakote Lake, a sprawling water body adjacent to the airport.
Access to safe drinking water had become a challenge for the community around the airport. BIAL installed rooftop rainwater harvesting units in five villages to provide safe drinking water for the community, benefiting more than 300 families, while also improving the water table in the region.