Municipal Water Leader November/December 2020

Page 26

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Storm Water Capture and Reuse at San Diego International Airport

The San Diego International Airport.

O

ver the past few years, San Diego International Airport has implemented several water reuse and conservation programs that are saving potable water, reducing runoff, and protecting the environment. These projects have been recognized with several Environmental Excellence Awards from the Industrial Environmental Association. In this interview, Richard Gilb, one of the airport’s managers for environmental affairs, tells Municipal Water Leader about the details of its ambitious projects.

Richard Gilb: I have a bachelor of science in geology from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s in public health from San Diego State University with an emphasis in environmental health. My master’s thesis involved storm water pollution. I’ve been working with storm water since the early 1990s, and I have 30 years of experience with storm water, solid waste, hazardous materials, and site assessment and mitigation. I spent 10 years with the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health and 2 years with the Port of San Diego.

26 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | November/December 2020

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about San Diego International Airport. Richard Gilb: San Diego International Airport is about a mile north of downtown San Diego and sits on 661 acres— just over a square mile. It is not directly on the San Diego Bay, but it’s across the street from it. We have one runway, which is the busiest single runway in the United States. We have 51 gates and had over 25 million passengers last year. Before the COVID‑19 pandemic, we had aircraft landing or taking off about every 3 minutes, and 68,000 passengers passing through the airport every day. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which owns and operations the airport, has a little more than 400 employees, while around 9,000 additional people work for airlines, concessions, or other operations at the airport. We drive a $12 billion local economic engine. (These numbers are all prepandemic.) municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

For the last 17 years, I’ve been a manager at the airport, managing all aspects of regulatory compliance, whether related to air, water, waste, or endangered species.


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