ICPI Issue 2 2019

Issue 2 • 2019 ® esign interloc 13 Equipment Innovations Support Cost- and Time-Effective Restorative Maintenance By Sheryl Jackson Recent Developments in PICP Cleaning Present Owner Solutions & Contractor Business Opportunities A business opportunity is waiting: millions of square meters of PICP are in need of cleaning. P ermeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) reduces stormwater runoff volumes and rates, while filtering pollutants. PICP has an admirable track record in paying for itself by reducing or eliminating detention ponds. In older cities with combined sanitary and storm sewer system, PICP presents a cost- effective means to reducing flows to wastewater treatment plants and related processing costs. However, when civil engineers, landscape architects, architects, and contractors recommend PICP, owners may resist as a result of their own or someone else’s experience with PICP clogging. In other cases, the owner won’t receive education on what’s required to clean PICP, or if received, doesn’t want to spend money for surface cleaning. These situations lead to lack of maintenance and clogging. The notion of clogging means that water puddles on a PICP surface rather than infiltrating quickly. There may be some infiltration into the surface and base, but it is very slow. In many cases, water puddles in places on the surface, and then moves to another area that more rapidly infiltrates the stormwater.  FEATURE STORY