Bruce Ferguson talks at UNL about Pervious Pavements in North America

On March 16, Bruce Ferguson with University of Georgia presented his observations about the evolution of porous pavements in North America to about 40-50 audience members at the UNL Water Center in Hardin Hall.  Bruce encouraged the audience that many of the questions that have circled porous pavements in the past are now being resolved and answered through good research.  He cited the great on-going work within the industry to define standards of practice that will help ensure the appropriate outcome once construction is completed.  Standards such as ASTM C 1688 for material density, ASTM C 1701 for infiltration, ASTM C 936, 902, and 1272 for block pavers will all go a long way to help ensure the stormwater BMP is effective for the longest amount of time.  Of course, a rigorous maintenance schedule is required to keep porous pavement working as designed. Bruce also highlighted some practical aspects of pervious pavements over standard pavements like developer cost savings and increased land use development densities.

During one segment of his presentation, he made the claim that using the correct installation techniques will create an underground environment where "oil ceases to exist".  I had to write the quote down to ask him to clarify during the question and answer period.  The bold claim honestly sounded a bit "Billy Mays-ish".  But, one of the looming concerns that always comes up in discussion about pervious pavement is the possible risk of contaminating groundwater when oils seep through the surface of parking lots.   Bruce referenced a 1990 Coventry Polytechnic (UK) study that could bring light to the subject of what soil micro-organisms do to oil in the soil column.  This is the hyperlink I found which you can read at your leisure.  What do you think?  Can we "buy the claim" that, if pervious pavements are constructed and maintained correctly the question of oil leaching to groundwater can be put to rest?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

If you missed this lecture, NeFSMA encourages you to take advantage of the next free events scheduled Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30.  Highlighted speakers include Dr. John Gulliver speaking on Innovations in Stormwater Treatment on March 30, Bill Hunt speaking on Research and Design of Green Stormwater Management Practices on April 13, and Tom Liptan speaking on Integrating Water and Vegetation to Transform Our Cities: Experiences from Portland, OR.  Put them on your calendars now if you haven't already. We'll see you there.

Stormwater Research for Roadway Runoff in Olympia, Washington

In 2003, when I began doing research for my Masters Thesis in Community and Regional Planning at University of Nebraska, YouTube didn't even exist. At the time, I was exploring the best examples around the country of land development codes that supported the ideas of watershed protection. These ideas have come to be called anything from Conservation Design, Low Impact Development, Better Site Design, Green Infrastrucutre, and others. Whatever you call it in your community or professional circle, the idea is that we shed a lot of additional water from newly developed sites that the existing water resources can't keep up with. Besides the increased runoff velocity, pollutants also load these stormwater flows at increased levels that have compounding negative impacts both locally and downstream.

There are many creative ways to manage stormwater runoff within a traditional land development. NeFSMA has provided members with tours from time to time of sites around Lincoln and Omaha who have demonstrated these opportunities. UNL-Extension Stormwater Management Team is helping install rain gardens in communities across the State. Examples are growing, but a significant barrier to alternative stormwater management practices exists when we're thinking about linear roadway systems. These systems transport almost 100% of the rainfall (and related pollutants) that falls on the footprint into a collection system and downstream. That is not the barrier though. The barrier is that the public wants to keep the cost of their roadways as low as possible. Additional right-of-way for a road that gets me to school/work/play is paid for by my taxes. If you start taking more right-of-way for things like stormwater treatment that requires sophisticated maintenance, our taxes are expected to go up, with no percieved benefit by the user.

Public Works Departments aren't typically given blank checks to run out and add a bunch of features that the City Council, Mayor, or the public aren't strongly behind. And in Nebraska, I'd say from experience that although most feel "it is important" to consider the environment, they are less inclined to pay that full price-tag when it comes to stormwater management on public projects. It's just not the way municipal business has been done in the past. Change is difficult and many examples of success are going to have to be seen before a transition can be made.

NeFSMA will continue to highlight those good (and bad) examples of stormwater management on public projects. Our hope is that the barrier to responsible stormwater management can start eroding away (we'll be sure to dispose of them properly). I was pleased to see the following video from the City of Olympia, Washington which was one of my case study examples in my Thesis. If you have 10 minutes to learn about this research project, I encourage you to listen for the way information is presented. The narrator paints an honest picture of why this project even occured and what they hope to learn from it.



So what do you think? What do we need to do in Nebraska to start breaking down barriers to responsible stormwater management on public infrastructure projects? Can it be done? Does it need to be done?

Article Respectfully Submitted by Jesse Poore of Felsburg Holt & Ullevig