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Pervious Concrete Withstands New England Winter

May, 27 2008

Test Pour in New Hampshire Earns Praise from Officials

(Silver Spring, Maryland) -- A test section of pervious concrete poured on the campus of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) has successfully withstood the harsh New England winter, causing municipal officials throughout the region to ask for more information concerning the material.

UNH researchers installed the pervious section – a 21, 000 square foot student parking lot – at the Durham campus as an experiment, hoping to find a construction material that would mitigate stormwater runoff while not deteriorating under an often-severe winter climate that at various times has rain, sleet and snow in rapid succession. University researchers might have been skeptical, but by April were convinced of pervious concrete’s durability.

When asked by a WBZ (Boston) television reporter how the section performed, Robert Roseen, director of the UNH Storm water Center, said “very well, and this was a very hard winter on pavement.”

He told the reporter that he was fielding phone calls from municipalities and developers across New England, as they look for ways to ease flooding and comply with stricter groundwater regulations. Meanwhile, the experimental lot has had an immediate impact on its surroundings. Roseen says the hillside around it used to flood in heavy rains, and that hasn't happened.

NRMCA and its regional partner, the Northern New England Concrete Promotion Association (NNECPA), both sent staff members to view the installation. NNECPA Executive Director Jon Kuell and NRMCA’s Managing Director, National Resources, Dan Huffman were both extremely pleased with the pervious concrete’s performance. NRMCA and its state and regional association partners have long promoted pervious concrete as a superior stormwater mitigation material, but have met resistance at times from local officials skeptical that the material would be up to the task in cold weather locations. This New Hampshire result will help considerably in their pervious promotion efforts, both men said.

“With help from professionals like Jon in New England and other promoters throughout the U.S., we’re confident of pervious concrete’s growth as an environmentally-friendly building material,” Huffman said. “It’s clearly not just for warmer climates anymore.”

NRMCA, based in Silver Spring, MD, represents the producers of ready mixed concrete and the companies that provide materials, equipment and support to the industry. It conducts education, training, promotion, research, engineering, safety, environmental, technological, lobbying and regulatory programs.

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