Porous pavement has been making headlines in some of the biggest news organizations on the country. Cities, states and residents have been experimenting with porous materials for a number of the benefits, including controlling stormwater, reducing highway noise and decreasing accidents caused by puddles and ice.
As the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote in February, Philadelphia’s Water Department will begin charging commercial customers for stormwater build-up, incentivizing the installation of retention basins, green roofs and, yes, porous pavement. By the time the plan is implemented, about 1,500 customers could see increases of $1,500 a month in their water bills if they don’t control their share of stormwater. The Inquirer also noted a few dozen customers could see their monthly water bill go up by more than $10,000 a month.
Hopewell, N.J., adopted new land-use ordinances in 2007 and, as the New York Times noted last October, the rain does not puddle on the pavement in Hopewell.
It’s not just an east coast thing either –the Los Angeles Times reported in February that the City of Los Angeles is considering a requirement for the capture and reuse of rainwater in new homes and large developments. Properties would have the capacity to infiltrate 100 percent of the water from a 3/4-inch rain storm, and failure would result in mitigation fees.
Bay on the Brink is a multimedia reporting project examining the fate of the Chesapeake Bay. It is produced by fellows at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism as part of News21, a consortium of journalism schools. This is the fellows' blog. The full project site is here: http://chesapeake.news21.com
