In order to address issues regarding water conservation, flooding concerns or EPA regulations on water pollution, more and more municipalities are turning to permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) systems for stormwater management. PICPs not only heighten the aesthetics of parking lots and roadways, they provide multiple benefits including flood mitigation, site optimization, and reduced infrastructure, maintenance and life cycle costs. Read what city officials, design professionals and business owners are saying about various municipal and commercial PICP projects.
What officials are saying:
“Permeable pavers are a very good solution for stormwater management, especially in highly urban areas with combined sewers that need capacity relief. We have been surprised by and pleased with the amount of infiltration into the ground. We were estimating much less.”
Todd Hill, Director of Environmental Management for the Department of Watershed Management
(Green Streets Project - Atlanta, GA)
“I push permeable pavers. I have not had success with porous asphalt. We have some pervious concrete, but there’s one project that we’re currently digging up for the third time. Permeable pavers look good, are easy to maintain, and can be used to create interesting designs. They offer aesthetics and are utilitarian. Various PICP projects have been installed throughout Franklin over the past six years, all of which continue to function well due to proper maintenance.”
Larry Mizell, Land Planner for the City of Franklin - (Franklin, TN)
“The low impact development means there’s less discharge into surface waters in the county. It was good, not only from an environmental perspective, but also that we’ll never have to repave it or restripe it because the parking lines were done in white pavers. Architecturally, it’s really nice.”
Dan Hubbard, Director, City of Pinellas Park Public Works - Facilities and Project Management Division
(Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center – Pinellas Park, FL)
What design professionals are saying:
“Surface water is not an issue. With Belgard PICP, you can shoot a firehose at it, and it permeates.”
“MS4 guidelines require that you not only detain water but clean it and minimize impact. With PICP, water goes into the system immediately without getting heated, which prevents local stream temperatures from being elevated and potentially harming aquatic life. Also, the paver color helps create an overall cooler environment by increasing reflectivity. When incorporated with a vegetative system, like a bioswale or infiltration trench, nitrates and phosphorous can even be removed from the water.”
Alan Thompson, Landscape Architect, LEED AP - (Richard Fulton Complex, Ragan-Smith Associates, Inc. – Nashville, TN)
What business owners are saying:
“The use of PICP, underground water storage and a hardscape surface allowed us to increase our yield of leasable space and reduce our long-term maintenance costs.”
Joe Swanson, Swanson Companies, Gateway Village
(Murfreesboro, TN)
“Anything that we can do that will improve water quality, fix the parking lot, and showcase our property is a winning solution.”
Layne Morrill, Kimberling City Center
(Kimberling City, MO)
What non-profits are saying:
“The results suggest that permeable pavement may be a proper pretreatment for rainwater harvesting through reduction of gross solids, sediment, nutrients, and metals. This will provide cleaner water to the end user, and reduce the frequency of maintenance for water filtration devices such as grit filters. ”
National Estuarine Research Reserve System
(4-month study of an installation at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, OH)
“We wanted to do something that would protect the lake better than it had been in the past. We didn’t want to use porous asphalt or pervious pavement because of the labor and equipment needed for installation, and both are high maintenance. ”
Gopala Borchelt, Executive Director for Table Rock Lake Water Quality, Inc.
(Kimberling City Center – Kimberling City, MO)
“Using the Belgard PICP would allow us to not only build a quality parking lot, but also capture rainwater, which would filter downward into a storage reservoir to be used to irrigate portions of the farmers’ market.”
Bryan Simon, Chair of the Milwaukee Green Corridor project
(Milwaukee Farmers’ Market – Milwaukee, WI)
For more information on the benefits of PICP, visit our Design Solutions page.
