Water Purification of Pervious Concrete Pavement

Abstract

Pervious concrete pavement is an effective means to address important environmental issues and support green and sustainable growth. By capturing storm water and allowing it to seep into the ground, pervious concrete is instrumental in recharging groundwater, reducing storm water runoff, and meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency storm water regulations. In fact, the use of pervious concrete is among the Best Management Practices recommended by the EPA. In this research, water quality and pollutants leached from pervious concrete pavement was investigated. This project mainly aims to study the pervious concrete pavement by pollutants such as acid rain, sea water or waste lubricating oil. The results show that pollutant and water purification of pervious concrete pavement both significantly improved in the acid rain, sea water or waste motor oil test. A diluted sulfuric acid solution (pH value 2.0) after the pervious concrete pavement system could significantly enhance its pH value to 6.5 above. This study demonstrates that implementing pervious concrete pavement is valuable for road design and hydrologic consideration.