Permeable Pavements at Town Hall

You may have noticed that the southwest section of the Town Hall parking lot looks different than the rest. While it may not look like much, it serves an important purpose. Traditional paved surfaces are impermeable, which means that water is not able to percolate through the soil as it would naturally, but instead must runoff into surrounding areas collecting pollutants as it goes. Unlike traditional pavement, the gray bricks you see here are spaced far enough apart to allow water to travel through the gaps into a layer of gravel below. The gravel layer supervises the gradual release of water into the Town of Clayton stormwater system as well as into the soil below where it will undergo biogeochemical filtration.

Forms:

Permeable pavements appear in different forms, some of which maybe indistinguishable from traditional pavements during dry weather. However, no matter which form it takes, the intention remains the same which is to prevent runoff by allowing water to follow the path of gravity into the soil below.

Benefits:

• prevents erosion
• maintain healthy ecosystems and wildlife
• flood control
• aesthetic value
• protecting property
• biogeochemical processes in the soil transform pollutants into less harmful forms

Bioretention Cell at Municipal Park

Among the many perks of Municipal Park is the bioretention cell installed to mitigate the adverse affects of stormwater. . The bioretention pond was designed to treat the large volume of stormwater that makes its way through this area. During a rainfall event, water collects in the pond via surface water and inlet pipes connected to the stormwater system below the surface. Water is retained at a designed volume at which the water level is designated as a temporary pool. If the water level rises above the temporary pool it will spill over the top of outlet riser so as to avoid flooding. Over time the water collected in the pond will percolate through the soil which will act to filter out the pollutants.

Benefits:

• prevents erosion
• maintain healthy ecosystems and wildlife
• flood control
• aesthetic value
• protecting property
• biogeochemical processes in the soil transform pollutants into less harmful forms