Design Specification No 7: Permeable Pavement

Design Specification No 7: Permeable Pavement

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Permeable pavements are alternative paving surfaces that allow stormwater runoff to filter through voids in the pavement surface into an underlying stone reservoir, where it is temporarily stored and/or infiltrated. A variety of permeable pavement surfaces are available, including pervious concrete, porous asphalt and permeable interlocking concrete pavers. While the specific design may vary, all permeable pavements have a similar structure, consisting of a surface pavement layer, an underlying stone aggregate reservoir layer and a filter layer or fabric installed on the bottom.

A pervious driveway at a home in Annapolis, Maryland
Permeable pavement promotes a high degree of runoff volume reduction and nutrient removal.

The thickness of the reservoir layer is determined by both a structural and hydrologic design analysis. The reservoir layer serves to retain stormwater and also supports the design traffic loads for the pavement. In low-infiltration soils, some or all of the filtered runoff is collected in an underdrain and returned to the storm drain system. If infiltration rates in the native soils permit, permeable pavement can be designed without an underdrain, to enable full infiltration of runoff. A combination of these methods can be used to infiltrate a portion of the filtered runoff.

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