Pave Drain: Sustainable Stormwater Solutions

This was a presentation at the Clean 19 meeting I attended in Salina with the City Engineer & Director of Public Works.  The Clean 19 was formed so that small communities could collaborate to meet EPA's unfunded mandates regarding stormwater pollution.  I was allowed to go along due to my interests in water and my NPDES, Phase II research with Dr. Stacey White of KU.  Pave Drain has products that work with controlling sediment, dust, and erosion in order to promote stormwater quality.  This also involves controlling stormwater quantity to prevent flooding.  The concrete blocks in the demonstration are designed to "zipper" together to create a mat.  This mat is held together with cables and features an arch underneath to channel the water.  The mat is built over the top of a bed of rock with geotextile fabric between the rock and the mat.  The fabric is  monofilament and provides separation (for water penetration), filtration, and strength.  The rock must be clean with relatively few fines as there need to be voids to allow permeability into the lower layers.  The rock should not be sandstone or limestone as they will degrade creating fines.  The rock bed should be at least 6" deep, but the deeper, the better.  This system allows for both stormwater infiltration (recharge) and storage.  The blocks interlock and the purpose of the non-corrosive cables is ease of installation and cleaning.  This system requires minimal maintenance for up to 20 years if these guidelines are followed.  If the mat becomes clogged with debris, a crane will be needed to lift the mats so that the fabric may be cleaned or replaced.  Typically there is an outside border to assist in holding this in place.  This process is used in parking lots which are traditionally non-permeable.  The arch provides great strength to the block and the demonstration showed fire trucks parked on it.  The only distributor for this in Arizona is Superlite blocks. 

This is one of the products provided by Jeff Pearce of ASP Enterprises.  When Newton's new fire station was constructed, ASP installed a rainwater retainage system.  As Suzanne Loomis is a no-nonsense type person and was the one who invited him to speak, she must have been pleased with the quality of the product and the service.  There was also a presentation concerning the Johnson County Stormwater Management Program Water Quality Monitoring which I shall post in a separate blog.