The Big Picture
In highly urbanized areas with combined sewer system, such as most parts of New York City, heavy storms could lead to sewer backups and street flooding. A combined sewer system is designed the way to convey both sanitary flow from buildings and storm-water runoff from streets in a single pipe to send to wastewater treatment plants. Low Impact Developments (LID) such as Permeable Pavements for driveways and sidewalks and installation of Green Roofs atop of properties’ roofs could help eliminating sewer backups and street flooding by slowing down storm-water flow to the city’s sewer system; as a result, the city’s sewer system would handle sanitary and storm flow more effectively.
What is Permeable Pavement?
Permeable pavements are designed to manage stormwater runoff and provide a strong pavement surface for your property’s parking, driveways, and walkways. They allow rain and melted snow to steep through the surface down to underlying soil and gravel.
Benefits for Property Owners
One of the greatest benefits of permeable pavement is its effectiveness for stormwater management by reducing stormwater runoff. Stormwater drains through open-graded surface and is temporarily held in the voids of the stone reservoir to slowly drain into the underlying, uncompacted subgrade.
It is a cost-effective technology as it reduces need for drainage structures, such as drywells. Also, permeable pavement has excellent performance during snow season, since water drains quickly through surface it helps snow and ice melt faster and therefore is a potential strategy for reducing use of deicing salts. Finally, Permeable pavement improves water and oxygen transfer to nearby plant roots.