Guide Examines Pervious Pavement, Runoff Detention

Ohio Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s Specifier’s Guide for Pervious Concrete Pavement with Detention aims to assist users in designing pavement slabs

Ohio Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s Specifier’s Guide for Pervious Concrete Pavement with Detention aims to assist users in designing pavement slabs with an underlying temporary stormwater storage system. Pervious concrete’s permeable, textured structure provides a rigid, yet porous surface that allows water to rapidly pass through it into a layer of clean, coarse aggregate below.

In view of today’s stringent regulations, detaining storm water on site or, better yet, enabling it to pass into the ground is preferable to piping water immediately into the nearest sewer or creek, ORMCA notes. To that end, the document presents guidelines Û even for clay-soil sites and those exposed to freeze-thaw conditions Û for use by engineers or architects in developing new or existing pavement designs to detain stormwater for regulatory compliance. Pervious concrete with detention suits parking lots, driveways or residential streets for new land developments, or, it can partially replace existing streets or parking lots to relieve the pressure on older, overloaded combined sewer systems.

The core text of the Specifier’s Guide for Pervious Concrete Pavement with Detention was compiled by ORMCA staff engineers from specifications used in Georgia, California, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont. The new guide and other pervious concrete information are available on the association website, www.ohioconcrete.org.