Dassault Falcon Jet's operation at Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field, has doubled over the past 10 years, but the amount of wastewater produced by its jet outfitting work has dropped by two-thirds.
Little Rock Wastewater officials say the steps taken by the company are outstanding and today plan to award the company's efforts to reduce its wastewater.
The utility also is recognizing four other companies with its annual Pollution Prevention Award at a ceremony at the Clinton Presidential Library at 11 a.m.
Dassault, which outfits corporate jets at Little Rock National Airport, is receiving the 2007 award for manufacturing and the Decade of Progress Award.
When Eugene Jamison started working as an environmental engineer for Dassault eight years ago, the company produced about a million gallons of wastewater a year. In 2006, the number had fallen to 340,000 gallons.
Over the years, the company modified its cleaning and painting processes, which also reduced the amount of water it used. The company replaced painting and other equipment and emphasized the need to turn off water spouts when not in use. Those changes alone reduced water consumption by 120,000 gallons a year.
As its water consumption declined, the company realized it could eliminate the wastewater it sends to the city's sewer lines. With the help of a 500-gallon evaporator tank, the water is burned off, leaving behind 2,000 gallons of wastewater saturated with metals. A hazardous-material contractor empties the tank about four times a year and hauls the material to another company where the metals are recovered, Jamison said.
"We feel like this is a good thing," Jamison said last week. "We're not sending this to the city." The decision has saved the company money and has reduced the number of chemicals it once stored to help treat the wastewater. In 2006 alone, the company saved $594,000 that otherwise would have been spent on treating wastewater.
"It's good business sense," Stan Suell, the utility's environmental assessment director, said last week. "They're a great corporate citizen of Little Rock." Throughout Little Rock, companies are taking similar steps.
The Pollution Prevention Award program began in 1998 as a way of recognizing and rewarding industries that adopt and promote pollution prevention.
Food processor Unilever, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Central Flying Service Inc. and small business Martinous Oriental Rugs are receiving annual pollution prevention awards at today's ceremony.
This article was published 10/08/2007
