Contaminants from Four New Pervious and Impervious Pavements in a Parking-lot

Abstract

A previous account (Thompson and James, 1994) described the design, construction and instrumentation of four different pavements-asphalt (AS), concrete brick (CP), and three-inch and four-inch thick concrete paver stones with infiltration cells (E3 and E4)-in both a typical parking-lot and in a laboratory. Sampling of runoff from both sets of four pavements was subsequently carried out, and the analytical results used to estimate the flux of 23 contaminants including heat (Thompson, 1995). This chapter reports the interim conclusions obtained from the parking-lot pavements for the first year after installation. 11.1 Introductory Background Impervious paving such as asphalt, when it replace a previously pervious surface, increases contaminant loads to receiving waters, especially pollutants arising from highway pavement, vehicular traffic, air deposition, surrounding land-uses and heated surfaces. Asphalt paving, concrete curbs and impervious gutters are efficient collectors and conveyors of contaminants and stressors to stormwater systems-they may appeal to some people but are generally bad for aquatic ecosystems. Appropriately-designed permeable concrete block pavers, on the other hand, and other infiltration practices, reduce the quantity of these pollutants that reach receiving waters, by filtering storm water through the upper soil zones.

A Laboratory Examination of Pollutants Leached from Four Different Pavements by Acid Rain

“…Other findings have been reported by Thompson and James (1995), Kresin et aI., (1997), James and Thompson, (1997), and James and Verspagen, (1997). Our main purpose here was to investigate the contribution of pervious and impervious pavements themselves to the chemical and physical alteration of urban runoff, by eliminating the effects of the environment and traffic.…”

Organism Detection in Permeable Pavement Parking Lot Infiltrates at the Edison Environmental Center, New Jersey

“…Permeable pavement, an alternative to conventional pavement, is a LID/GI infiltration system where the stormwater runoff infiltrates through a permeable layer of pavement or other stabilized surface, reducing the need for runoff drainage and treatment offsite (Field and Sullivan, 2003). Permeable pavement systems can enhance stormwater quality after infiltrating through the system (Clausen and Gilbert, 2003;Ellis, et al, 2004;Gilbert and Clausen, 2006;James and Thompson, 1997;Rushton, 2001). There are a variety of permeable pavements and each has unique characteristics that lend themselves to application in specific environments.…”

Effects of Urbanization on Groundwater

“…Concrete block use started in the 1970s when open-jointed blocks were developed (Shackel, 2003;Ferguson, 2005). Early studies on concrete block pervious pavement were done by William James' research group at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada (Kresin et al, 1996;James and Thompson, 1996;James and Shahin, 1997). A seminal study examining pervious asphalt, concrete grid pavers backfilled with sand, a gravel trench, a grass lot, conventional asphalt, and conventional concrete in Austin, Texas, compared observed data to simulated data from a pervious pavement modeling program (Goforth et al, 1983).…”