Comparative performance of permeable and porous Pavements

Abstract

The traditional approach to stormwater management is based on the development of urban drainage networks to convey stormwater away from developed areas quickly. With the increase in impermeable areas due to urban development, the quantity of stormwater runoff is significantly increased, overloading existing infrastructure. Pollutants carried by stormwater to receiving waters are also a major concern. Pervious pavements in car parks and driveways have potential to reduce peak discharge and the volume of runoff flowing into urban drains and improve runoff water quality by trapping the sediments in the infiltrated water. The paper focuses on presenting results from field tests carried out in Melbourne, Australia to evaluate reductions in peak discharge and the volume of stormwater after infiltrating through pervious pavement surfaces. The current study examines two types of pervious pavement surfaces: namely C&M Ecotrihex pavers and Atlantis turf cells and compares their performance against a conventional asphalt paved car park. Considerable reduction in peak discharges, runoff volumes, pollutant concentrations and loads were obtained from field tests. These reductions reduce the stresses on hydraulic infrastructures and on the ecosystem of the receiving waters. Furthermore, both C&M Ecotrihex and Atlantis turf cell surfaces reduces the lag-time by at least one hour to the peak discharge compared to the asphalt surface. This would further reduce the pressure on the infrastructure during a big storm event.