Permeable Concrete Reduces Water Runoff

Permeable, or pervious, concrete is becoming more and more common around the region but what is it?

Pervious concrete is a special type of concrete with a high porosity used for concrete flatwork applications that allows water from precipitation and other sources to pass directly through, thereby reducing the runoff from a site and allowing groundwater recharge. The high porosity is attained by a highly interconnected void content. Typically pervious concrete has little or no fine aggregate and has just enough cementitious paste to coat the coarse aggregate particles while preserving the interconnectivity of the voids. Pervious concrete is traditionally used in parking areas, areas with light traffic, residential streets, pedestrian walkways, and greenhouses. It is an important application for sustainable construction and is one of many low impact development techniques used by builders to protect water quality. (Wikipedia)

Sounds good but what does it look like?

The rough texture takes some getting used to although in a context like South Grand it’s a nice contrast with the smooth concrete of the sidewalk area.What’s your thought on this type of concrete?

– Steve Patterson