Pollutant load removal efficiency of pervious pavements: is clogging an issue?

Pervious pavements in car parks and driveways reduce the peak runoff rate and the quantity of runoff discharged into urban drains as well as improve the stormwater quality by trapping the sediments in the infiltrated water. The paper focuses on presenting results from the laboratory tests carried out to evaluate water quality improvements and effects of long-term decrease in infiltration rates with time due to sediments trapping (clogging) within the pavement pores. Clogging was not found to be a major factor affecting pervious pavement performance after simulating 17 years of stormwater quality samples.

Contributing to the sustainable use of stormwater: the role of pervious pavements.

The city of Melbourne, Australia is experiencing a water crisis with potable water storage reservoirs at an all time low. With increasing urbanisation there is an ever increasing need to research and explore sustainable water management initiatives. There is potential to minimise the negative impacts of stormwater runoff and augment dwindling supplies of potable water through adoption of pervious paving technology.