More on Eco Friendly Driveways, Roads and Paths on Estates in the North West of England
Posted by Chris on February 5th, 2013More about ’why external drainage is required, if eco friendly permeable driveway, path and road surfaces are used’. There’s a few more things to say here.
The North West of England should take the lead in terms of building eco friendly driveways, paths, roads and carparks
Within any development, regardless of the external surfacing, there’s an underground drainage system to take away foul and waste water from the buildings (sinks, toilets etc.), which connects to the public sewers and ends up being carried away to processing plants for filtration etc. and reuse. This underground system within and outside of the site is the same sewer system external surface water from roofs, ground etc. is discharged to – so even if there were no requirement for a piped system to get rid of rain water there would still need to be a system in place. The only visual difference being that you wouldn’t see drainage channels, grates, gullies etc. on the road surfaces if a site were discharged solely using eco friendly permeable surfaces but you would still see the manhole and inspection chamber covers externally that are part of the buildings foul and waste underground drainage system.
Above ground and underground drainage requirements (and foul and waste pipework) up to the public sewer connection are a few of the many things Building Regulations governs – which require statutory compliance (like planning). The various parts of the building regulations documents get updated every so often to reflect changes in standards, technology, planning policy etc. so permeability – I think now is part of the Regulations and overall strategy for rain/surface water discharge.
Many potential users of eco friendly green driveways are home owners on existing, built residential neighbourhoods and developments where the either/or issue doesn’t really exist (underground drainage vs permeable surfacing) – since there will already be an existing drainage system in place. So it’s really about the added benefits of environmentally friendly permeable surfacing which are aesthetic, environmental and practical (It looks better in most cases, it aids discharge to the ground which is good for surrounding planting/trees, it reduces the strain on the existing public sewers and the potential for localised backup/flooding and in winter helps reduce the likelihood of surface ice from rain that has settled etc – which can cause accidents to people from slipping etc. ) Planning is also keen on d.i.y sustainability and generally they are quite encouraging towards people who install solar panels, permeable paving, water butts etc. because it reduces energy use and in the case of the paving relieves pressure on the public sewer system – which has financial implication, through renewal, repair, maintenance etc. There was a broadcast on Radio 4 last year that was about these issues and permeable surfacing to individual properties was mentioned. It was mentioned that it is worth finding out what, if any grants are available for it – as there are financial incentives for solar panels to domestic properties. In the current climate I’m sure most people would find that of interest if they were already interested in the idea for some of the above reasons.
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