Water and land quality
Did you know?
Over the next five years we will be investing £4.8 billion in the refurbishment and renewal of Heathrow’s facilities.
Water and land quality
Ensuring that the quality of water that runs off our airport complies with environmental standards is of great importance to BAA. Heathrow covers a large area of land and therefore gives rise to large amounts of rainfall runoff which has to be managed effectively before being discharged into the environment.
UK and EU legislation limits the amount of harmful materials allowed in water that is discharged from the airport. Water quality at Heathrow is managed by closely monitoring the levels and substances in water and by collecting and treating the run-off water which is not suitable for discharge directly into the environment.
Our objective is to secure protection of the environment at all times through a responsible and proactive approach to water quality management, and to ensure 100% regulatory compliance in all aspects of water quality management now and in the future.
We published our water quality strategy in 2003 which covers the five year period 2003-2007. This strategy relates to all aspects of water management including surface water, foul water, groundwater and land quality which may affect the water environment. We will review performance against the strategy during 2008 and develop a new action plan to ensure on-going management of our water quality impacts.