Responsiveness and flexibility provide stormwater solutions for Hawaii airports

Client challenge

DOTA needed a partner to provide environmental engineering and regulatory compliance services across all 15 state airports. These include three major transportation hubs: Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Kahului Airport on Maui, and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on the island of Hawaii.

To maintain compliance with stormwater regulations, DOTA needed reliable, responsive, and scalable technical support.

Our approach

In 2019, after our contract was first awarded, we rapidly scaled to complete hundreds of tenant inspections within a few months to meet annual regulatory requirements. Since then, we have continued these inspections while also conducting monthly construction best management practice (BMP) inspections and hundreds of annual drainage well inspections.

DOTA and airport tenants typically have dozens of concurrent design and construction projects. We review design packages for stormwater requirements and inspect construction activities. We also authored the DOTA Environmental Requirements for Construction Projects Standard Operating Procedure, aligning field practices with permit requirements.

We regularly update eight airport-wide Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure plans and prepared two airport-specific Stormwater Management plans and three Industrial Stormwater Pollution Prevention plans. We also submit required annual regulatory reports and train hundreds of DOTA personnel each year on pollution-prevention practices.

To improve operational efficiency and program consistency, we helped implement and manage DOTA’s Environmental Asset Management System (EMS/AMS), developed compliance manuals and guidance documents, and updated the Construction and Post-Construction BMP manuals. These resources standardized processes and responsibilities across staff, tenants, contractors, and projects statewide.

Value delivered

• Authored DOTA’s Environmental Requirements for Construction Projects Standard Operating Procedure document, aligning field practices with permit requirements and supporting consistent stormwater compliance across airports statewide
• Regularly update stormwater plans and train hundreds of DOTA personnel each year on pollution prevention, supporting consistent implementation of compliance
• Manage DOTA’s EMS/AMS and maintain operational efficiency and program quality by standardizing processes and responsibilities across staff, tenants, and contractors