April 7, 2015 – Deerfield Beach, FL. – An innovative Titan Block concrete paving product solved a variety of problems for the City of Melbourne, Florida when the city elected to replace a gravel parking lot on Highland Avenue with PaveDrain.
PaveDrain is a permeable articulating concrete block (P-ACB) which utilizes an open-graded aggregate base to mitigate storm water runoff while handling heavy traffic loads. For the City of Melbourne, the most important benefit of using the PaveDrain system is that polluted storm water is diverted from flowing into nearby Indian River Lagoon. Instead, the storm water infiltrates through the PaveDrain system, into the aggregate base and is cleansed naturally before recharging the aquifer below. Also, using PaveDrain increased parking availability, since paving the 8,868 SF parking lot with traditional asphalt would have necessitated that the city set up retention ponds or similar areas to treat runoff on the site.
“This is an excellent example of how coastal cities can use PaveDrain as an effective, state-of-the-art system to keep pollution-laden storm water out of the fragile surrounding water,” stated Greg Strickland, Titan Block’s product representative for PaveDrain. “We’re looking forward to sharing the benefits of our products with others who are facing similar challenges.”
Melbourne City officials estimate the new filtration system will capture three inches of rain over a 1.4 acre area that includes the parking lot, an alley and a few buildings, cutting the amount of pollution from entering the Indian River Lagoon by an estimated 95 percent.
Ryan Mitchell, a Professional Engineer with E Sciences, based in Orlando, estimated that for this project, PaveDrain reduces total suspended solids (TSS) by 95% and also reduces nitrogen and phosphorous by 95% each.
$128,000 of the project cost was paid for by a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FLDEP).
PaveDrain is manufactured by Titan Block, Edgewater Florida and sold through business partner distributor, ACF Environmental, Altamonte Springs, FL.