Working with Regulators to Change Permeable Pavements Acceptance

Abstract

Starting in 1999, North Carolina State University faculty began research on permeable pavement used to infiltrate stormwater runoff, or permeable pavement. NC State conducted several studies from 1999 to 2005, all of which repeatedly showed positive performance for runoff reduction. Faculty at NC State cooperated with regulators at the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR) and eventually helped persuade the regulators to accept permeable pavement as a stormwater best management practice in 2006. Permeable pavement's initial approval was confined to the eastern, and sandier soil region, one-third of the state of North Carolina. Subsequent to the initial allowance, faculty at NC State further cooperated with staff of State Senator Marc Basnight who passed a law requiring the use of permeable pavement, or an acceptable alternative, in parking lots across the state of North Carolina. The NC Department of Transportation (DOT) has since been required to evaluate the use of permeable pavement for every sidewalk in NC DOT right-of-way statewide. This loosened the restriction for use of permeable pavement for only sandy in-situ soils. Due to the change in state policy, certain communities have embraced the use of permeable pavement, and the implementation of the product has increased substantially. One of the main reasons for this was the NC DENR's treating of permeable pavement as a mostly permeable (and partially impermeable) surface. The relationship of a university working hand-in-hand with regulators has proven very beneficial for the use of permeable pavement.