Permeable pavers offer an exciting new way to keep your project green while still looking beautiful. "Permeable" is a term used to describe paving methods for roads, parking lots and walkways that allow the movement of water and air around the paving material and into the ground below. The infiltration capacity of the native soil is a key design consideration for determining the depth of base rock for stormwater storage or for whether an underdrain system is needed.

For detailed information on the environmental/permeable pavers we install, including photos and product brochures, please visit www.belgard.biz/environmental-pavers.htm

In new suburban growth, porous pavements protect pristine watersheds. In areas already built out, old town centers, redevelopment and reconstruction are opportunities for environmental rehabilitation. Permeable paving is an important component in low impact development, a process for land development in the United States that attempts to minimize impacts on water quality.

Permeable paving surfaces are highly desirable because of the problems associated with water runoff from paved surfaces. Part of the problem is creating an unnatural volume of runoff from precipitation, which causes serious erosion and silt buildup in streams and other bodies of waters. Permeable paving surfaces keep the pollutants in place in the soil or other material underlying the pavers, where natural decomposition and filtration can occur.

Porous pavements give urban trees the rooting space they need to grow to full size. A “structural-soil” pavement base combines structural aggregate with soil; a porous surface admits vital air and water to the rooting zone. This integrates healthy ecology and thriving cities, with the living tree canopy above, the city’s traffic on the ground, and living tree roots below.

Please visit www.belgard.biz for more information.

Acadia Landscape is a member of the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute.

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