Permeable Pavers
Permeable Pavers present a solid surface but allow natural drainage and migration of water into the earth by permitting water to drain through the spaces between the pavers.
Permeable paving surfaces are highly desirable because of the problems associated with water runoff from paved surfaces. Part of the problem is creating an unnatural volume of runoff from precipitation, which causes serious erosion and siltation in streams and other bodies of waters. Part of the problem is also the washing off of vehicular pollutants into water bodies.
Permeable pavers keep the pollutants in place in the soil or other material underlying the roadway, and allow water seepage to groundwater recharge while preventing the stream erosion problems. They capture the heavy metals that fall on them, preventing them from washing downstream and accumulating inadvertently in the environment. In the void spaces, naturally occurring micro-organisms digest car oils, leaving little but carbon dioxide and water; the oil ceases to exist as a pollutant. Rainwater infiltration its built-in stormwater management, is usually less than that of an impervious pavement with a separate stormwater management facility somewhere downstream.
Permeable pavements give urban trees the rooting space they need to grow to full size. A "structural-
Two Brothers Brick Paving (http://www.twobrothersbrickpaving.com/
Photo:
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