22-1 Permeable Pavers and Their Benefit in Civil Infrastructure

Session: Advances in characterizing groundwater, surface water, and their interactions (Posters)

Presenting Author:

Authors:

Abstract:

Permeable pavements are a type of paving that allow water and snowmelt to ‘seep through the surface down to underlying layers of soil and gravel’ (EPA, 2016). Groundwater is water that is in ‘saturated zones beneath the land surface.’ There are various types of permeable pavement: porous asphalt, pervious concrete and permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP). The civil infrastructure that would be changed the most by the introduction of pavers to an environment would be lightly travelled roads and sidewalks that often get flooded in heavy rain.

In recent years, groundwater reserves have been declining at a greater rate than they had in the twentieth century. Non-permeable materials are commonly used in roads and sidewalks, blocking rainwater's entryway to the ground. These materials disrupt groundwater recharge, causing the water to be diverted to other sources, such as lakes and rivers. Depleted groundwater reserves can lead to subsidence, ‘a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface’.

In 2015, California used the most groundwater in the country, around 17,000 million gallons per day. The same year, NASA satellites tracked subsidence in California’s San Joaquin Valley and found that certain areas had lowered from one to ten inches. This subsidence can greatly disturb infrastructure and cost cities millions of dollars.

In conclusion, permeable pavement should be introduced in more urban environments in order to preserve groundwater reserves. Low groundwater reserves are a concern that can deeply affect the movement of land and the people that depend on it. Permeable pavers can help mitigate these effects. This poster will focus on groundwater reserves and depleting water levels and the benefits of integrating permeable pavers, specifically Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavement (PICP) in sidewalks and lightly travelled roadways.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2, 2026

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