A Comparison of Three Types of Permeable Pavements for Urban Runoff Mitigation in the Semi-Arid South Texas, U.S.A

Abstract

This study examines the hydrologic and environmental performance of three types of permeable pavement designs: Porous Concrete Pavement (PCP), Permeable Interlocking Concrete (PICP), and Interlocking Block Pavement with Gravel (IBPG) in the semi-arid South Texas. Outflow rate, storage, Normalized Volume Reduction (NVR), Normalized Load Reductions (NLR) of Total Suspended Solids (TSS), and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) were compared to results obtained from adjacent traditional pavements at different regional parking lots. A notable percentage of peak flow attenuation of approximately 31–100% was observed when permeable pavements were constructed and implemented. IBPG was capable to hold runoff from rainfall depths up to 136 mm prior to flooding. PCP was the most satisfactory in reducing surface runoff (NVR: 2.81 × 10−3 ± 0.67 × 10−3 m3/m2/mm), which was significantly (p < 0.05) higher (98%) than the traditional pavement. PCP was also very effective in TSS removal (NLR: 244 × 10−5 ± 143 × 10−5 kg/m2/mm), which was an increase of over 80% removal than traditional pavement. IBPG (NLR: 7.14 × 10−5 ± 7.19 × 10−5 kg/m2/mm) showed a significantly (p < 0.05) higher (46%) BOD5 removal over traditional pavement. These results demonstrate that the type of permeable pavement and the underlying media can significantly influence the runoff reduction and infiltration in this climatic region.

Urban stormwater characterization, control, and treatment

“…A study examining hydrologic alterations of stormwater by three types of permeable pavements showed that peak flows were lowered between 31% and 100% across all three types of pavements. PC pavements were best at eliminating surface runoff compared to interlocking block pavement with gravel, and PICP (Alam, Mahmoud, Jones, Bezares‐Cruz, & Guerrero, 2019a). The porosity of PC pavements ranging from 20% to 30% was shown to have no effect on the fatigue life of pavement sections subjected to repeated wheel loads (AlShareedah, Nassiri, & Dolan, 2019).…”

“…The reduction of TSS was greatest (80%) by PC compared with other pavements tested. Other pavements tested comprised PICB, and interlocking block pavements with gravel (Alam et al, 2019a). BOD5 removal with interlocking block pavements with gravel was greatest (46%) when compared with other pavements.…”

Decision-Support System for LID Footprint Planning and Urban Runoff Mitigation in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas

“…Within the algorithm, the total volume of runoff was calculated by multiplying the rainfall duration by the peak discharge as per flow-volume relationship [55]. The following Equations (4)- (7) were written for the DSS algorithm to calculate 50-and 10-year peak discharge and runoff volume:…”

“…Urban land developments increased by four times between the years 1945 and 2010 [5], which eventually altered the watershed hydrology and triggered an uncontrolled runoff towards major rivers in the US [6]. The first flush of urban runoff carries non-point source (NPS) pollutant load, which eventually adversely affects the water quality of the watershed [7][8][9]. Since the 1980s, federal and state agencies have been working to update the watershed protection plans and adjust existing drainage policy measures to address the impairment of the US rivers, with the involvement of cities and the Stormwater Task Force (STF) partners [10,11].…”

“…Still, there is a lack of a well-established tool to enforce the local drainage policy in optimal selection and evaluation of combined BMP scenarios for maximizing hydrologic benefits in urban development [32,36,37]. The proper selection of a BMP or BMPs in series through innovative planning, management, and engineering approaches will not only benefit communities but will also protect the water quality and ecosystems of the watershed [7].…”