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Frequently Asked Questions
Cement & Concrete
Technology Home > FAQs > Pervious
concrete and stormwater management
Q: How can pervious concrete be used for
storm water management?
A: Pervious concrete
is a mixture of cement, water, and coarse aggregate, little to no
sand, and frequently containing chemical admixtures, which is created
to provide a very porous medium for pavements that allows water
to drain to the underlying soils. Pervious concrete is commonly
produced to allow as much as 5 gal/ft²/ min or 200 L/m²/min
to pass through the body of the concrete.
By allowing rain events to penetrate the pavement to the underlying
soils, the first flush of the paved surface is contained on site.
The natural infiltration of the area remains unchanged so the water
can recharge the water table. This avoids surface runoff that must
be held in detention ponds or added to the storm water surface runoff
which must then be treated before it is returned to the local streams.
In many cases the pavement may also be designed with a layer of
coarse granular material below the pavement to increase the storage
potential of the system. This has proven to be an effective tool
to increase the area of usable pavement on a project as well as
satisfy local water management regulations.
More on pervious concrete.
Additional information is available from
the following resources:
Pervious
Concrete Pavement website maintained by the National Ready Mixed
Concrete Association and the Portland Cement Association
Tennis, P. D., Leming, M. L., and Akers, D. J., Pervious
Concrete Pavements,
EB302, Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Illinois, and National
Ready Mix Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Maryland, 2004, 25
pages.
Portland Cement Association, Pervious
Concrete: Hydrological Design and Resources (CD),
CD063, Skokie, Illinois, 2007.
Leming, M. L., Malcom, H. R., and Tennis, P. D., Hydrologic
Design of Pervious Concrete,
EB303, Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Illinois, and National
Ready Mix Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Maryland, 2007, 25
pages.
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