The Juneau International Airport was forced to shut down its lavatory dump station after the Food and Drug Administration found that it violated federal code during a surprise inspection Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty cut and dry,\u201d Airport Manager Patty Wahto said in an interview. \u201cWe\u2019ve closed down the site until we can get everything up to snuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dump station is a fairly straightforward facility; it\u2019s essentially just a concrete slab and a manhole cover near the fuel depot on airport grounds. But it serves an important function. Commercial interstate aircraft \u2014 namely those belonging to Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines \u2014 used the station to empty their onboard lavatories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was basically just a place for lavatory fluid taken off jets to be deposited into a sanitary storm sewer,\u201d Airport Operations Superintendent Scott Rinkenberger said.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning, an FDA inspector found five code violations at the dumpsite, including its lack of a hand-washing station.<\/p>\n
Though Wahto said she and her staff are used to surprise inspections, this one really caught her off guard because she wasn\u2019t aware the FDA had any reason to inspect the dump station.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite frankly, this has been there for years and years and years,\u201d Wahto said. \u201cIn the myriad of alphabet-soup agencies we work with, the FDA wasn\u2019t even on my radar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wahto and her staff weren\u2019t the only ones surprised to hear that the FDA inspected airport lavatory dump stations. Even an FDA spokesperson was surprised to hear about the inspection when the Empire called to ask about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not aware that we would inspect something like that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As it turns out, the FDA can and does inspect airport dump stations. It\u2019s a part of the administration\u2019s Interstate Travel Program. Under this program, the FDA is required to inspect \u201cpassenger-carrying conveyances during their construction and operation as well as the support facilities for those conveyances,\u201d according to the administration\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupport facilities\u201d include waste-handling facilities, according to FDA press officer Lauren Sucher (not the same spokesperson as above). She wouldn\u2019t say how often the FDA inspects lavatory dump stations because the administration doesn\u2019t give information about dates or frequency of inspections.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like a pop quiz in grade school, if you know there\u2019s a pop quiz, it\u2019s not as effective,\u201d Sucher said.<\/p>\n
During an Airport Board meeting Tuesday night, Wahto said that airport staff had already begun working to remedy several of the dump station\u2019s violations. Some are easier to fix than others.<\/p>\n
The airport closed the station immediately to clean a small amount of lavatory fluid residue near the station and capped the waste hose, both of which were code violations. But some of the other violations might cause the airport to close the station for good and find a new place for planes to empty their lavatories.<\/p>\n
The FDA inspector cited the airport for a crack in the concrete foundation of the dumpsite. The inspector also found fault with the site\u2019s lack of a wash-down hose and hand-washing station.<\/p>\n
To fix these violations, the airport will likely have to build a new dump station, according to Wahto and Rinkenberger. Luckily, in the meantime, planes with full lavatory tanks aren\u2019t being told to hold it until the next airport.<\/p>\n
Aero Services, the company that empties airplane lavatories and transports their contents to the dump station, now has a new place to empty the lavatory liquid. The company is using a city-owned septic dump station near Pipeline Skate Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese facilities are very similar,\u201d Samantha Stoughtenger, the city\u2019s wastewater utility superintendent, said in a phone interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Stoughtenger explained that the dump change won\u2019t impact the city\u2019s sewer system because the waste from the airport dump station ended up at the Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same sewage that was getting to us anyway,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nobody from Aero Services got back to the Empire by the end of the business day Wednesday to talk about how the switch has impacted business.<\/p>\n
The city is charging Aero Services the standard bulk rate for dumping, which is $30.67 per 1,000 gallons. The airport wasn\u2019t charging the company for access to its dump station, according to Rickenberger.<\/p>\n
He said he doesn\u2019t know when the airport will have its new dump station ready. It has just begun the \u201cplanning stage.\u201d Rickenberger said he wasn\u2019t comfortable providing an estimated completion date for the project. Such a prediction would be a crapshoot.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n
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