When heavy rain strikes ordinary concrete or asphalt, it typically has nowhere to go. During a major storm, water might overflow the nearby drainage system, rush across the surface, and accumulate in drains. A different strategy was explored by engineers in North Carolina, using permeable interlocking concrete pavers that let rain pass through the surface and into the stone layers beneath. During monitored rainfall events as large as 88 millimetres, the Swansboro pavement produced no measured surface runoff, according to a 2007 study in the Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering .
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