Water facilities around the airport in Ilulissat have become a political issue after a recent fire in the area proved difficult to extinguish.
Last week, the mayor of Avannaata Municipality, Lars Erik Gabrielsen (S), criticized the water supply, which according to the mayor is completely inadequate for the upcoming Atlantic Airport.
In this connection, Sermitsiaq has contacted the Danish Transport Authority, the state's supervisory authority, for a comment on fire safety in Ilulissat.
The response from the Danish Transport Authority does not address whether the municipality is right that the current water supply is irresponsibly poor.
However, the Danish Transport Authority would like to confirm that the water must be under control in any case before a new airport for large aircraft can be opened in Ilulissat.
– Prior to the opening of the new airport in Ilulissat, the Danish Transport Authority must approve that Greenland Airports has a preparedness plan that meets aviation regulations for how quickly and effectively a fire can be extinguished on the runway if an aircraft crashes, informs Head of Department Doris Tranberg Jørgensen.
– This means, for example, that we set requirements for how much water and synthetic foam liquid must be available, and how quickly it must be able to be filled on the airport's crash tenders, she says.
Crash tenders are fire engines intended for use at airports.
– We require that there must be sufficient water to fill the crash tenders completely twice within a short period of time, explains Doris Tranberg Jørgensen.
Disagreement over political responsibility
Mayor Lars Erik Gabrielsen and his municipality would like to have Naalakkersuisut and Greenland Airports involved in establishing a better water supply, so that water can be avoided from the city in the event of major fires.
However, Greenland Airports has emphasized in its response to Sermitsiaq that the company is responsible for the airport area, not water reservoirs outside.
– It is important to state that emergency preparedness responsibility outside the airport area – including water supply and infrastructure – is a municipal responsibility, wrote Greenland Airports.
Avannaata Kommunia argues that the framework law for the new airports sends the bill in Greenland Airports' direction.
It has not yet been possible to get a comment from the Government of Greenland on this question, which has passed through four different departments since last week, without any of them having responded.
The Danish Transport Authority emphasizes that it does not take part in the political discussion about which institutions in Greenland are responsible for any improvements to water conditions at Ilulissat Airport.
– It is outside our area of authority to describe what the airport's water supply and other fire preparedness around the buildings should be like, says Doris Tranberg Jørgensen.
