Environmental Resilience
Fundamentally, what is most exciting about pervious concrete is that we’re returning land to a pre-developed hydrology, while maintaining a useful hard surface that we can work, play, and drive on. The rain that falls on AquaPave® can again soak into the ground instead of flowing across a hardscape, picking up contaminants, and getting sent through pipes to pollute the nearest body of water.
Remove Pollution
When rain soaks into the ground, not only does it re-charge groundwater and local aquifers, but it also filters out stormwater contaminants. Our basecourse contains native microbes that metabolise approximately 99% of all hydrocarbons (oil, gasoline, diesel). In addition, AquaPave® filters up to 97% of the heavy metals from stormwater that pass through it as well.
Water Recapture for Urban Trees
When planning for landscaping, AquaPave® provides a way to safely pave much closer to existing trees, because air and water are readily supplied to their roots. Trees planted adjacent to pervious concrete have been shown to experience a growth rate 68% greater than that of trees in traditional concrete plots. Furthermore, the resulting grey water can be harvested for irrigation.
Reduce the Heat Island Effect
Pervious concrete is a cooler pavement than traditional pavements. The air and water exchange from the surface of the pavement to the sub-soil beneath keeps the pervious concrete slab cooler. This also reduces the heat island effect of dense development.
Strengthen Native Hydrology
In cases where native soils may infiltrate slowly or quickly saturate, pervious concrete can outperform nature for the amount of stormwater that it can infiltrate and treat, thus providing increased hydrological benefits.
Reduce Embodied Energy and Carbon
Reducing embodied energy and carbon are considered key priorities in the goal to reduce climate change. The consumption of portland cement, a key ingredient to concrete, accounts for 5% of all human-generated carbon emissions annually. Pervious concrete uses less portland cement per volume than conventional concrete, and can reduce a pavement’s embodied carbon by almost 40%. The additions of industry by-products produces a 64% reduction of embodied carbon per volume. When compared to asphalt, pervious concrete requires less energy to be produced, leading to a 56-70% reduction in embodied energy at the time of installation.
