I Long For Pervious Concrete.

Okay.  So I don't really long for pervious concrete, but I would like to see more widespread usage.  This is what a sidewalk made out of pervious concrete looks like:

What is pervious concrete?  It's pretty much concrete that is permeable and allows water to pass through it, just as the name implies.  What I love about this, is that it does more for the environment than what you would think it could.  I feel like the only problem is that it isn't as glass smooth as concrete ... oh well.  I can live without smooth concrete in exchange for it's benefits.

When it rains, typically concrete and asphalt allow all rainwater to run off.  The problem of concrete/asphalt runoff is that it picks up ridiculous amounts of toxins and pollutants along the way.  Runoff also causes rivers and creeks to swell with water since none is being absorbed leading to widespread flooding.  It has been noted time after time, that the large amount of development in North Dallas (and associated parking lots and streets) is responsible for the Trinity River Levees' decreased ability to provide flood protection.  Supposedly, 11 inches of rain in one day would overwhelm the levees in Ft. Worth and Dallas.  Imagine what kind of damage that would cause.  Breaching of Dallas' levees would result in damage far greater than that of New Orleans.  It's a little scary to think that Hurricane Ike dropped 12 inches of rain here in Bryan/College Station ... eeek.

Moving on.  My solution is to replace all sidewalks and parking lots with pervious concrete.  I mean, obviously not all at once, but some here and there.  Maybe charge some kind of tax for sprawling parking lots and use that to fund the initiative.  Maybe require all new parking lots and sidewalks to be made out of pervious concrete?

The only problem with pervious concrete is that it's basically not suited for high traffic streets or highways.  Sad day.  I'm thinking residential streets and driveways can also be made from this material.  It's great for the environment because the water absorbs into the soil underneath the concrete.  It also traps pollutants and toxins in it's airspaces and allows nature to naturally degrade them and return nutrients to the soil.  How nice.  So, it lowers runoff pollution, hydrates land, reduces runoff volume, is just as durable as concrete, and costs about the same as concrete.  Hmmmm.  Why aren't we using more of this!?