PaveDrain Case Study & DIY with with Tom Batroney, P.E., CFM & Doug Buch from PaveDrain

Link to the photos mentioned during the podcast: Sidewalk Photos

Episode 016: “The majority of our impervious surfaces are not in the public realm, they’re not in the street, they’re on private land,” shares Tom Batroney, P.E., CFM (Professional Engineer and Certified Floodplain Manager).  Tom spends not only his professional life, but also his personal time dedicated to stormwater and improving his impact. In 2020 he needed to repair the damaged sidewalk in front of his home. He looked into replacing it back with slab concrete, but after looking at cost and using his stormwater knowledge, came up with a better solution. “We’re so conditioned to just put it back, to just keep doing it. You got sidewalk, just put the new sidewalk back. And people need to see there’s other ways out there, especially when it’s stormwater. I think it’s a change of mindset,” said Batroney. He used a PaveDrain permeable paving system, which turned out to be less expensive, as well as allowing stormwater infiltration. He still has people stop and ask him about it. Doug Buch with PaveDrain says, “We’re getting into more and more of the residential work every year. We’re doing more driveways, most of them heated, and sidewalks around the country.”   

Tom is also on the board for the Upstream Pittsburgh watershed organization. They work with local councils to make sure that residents can put pavers and stormwater management practices on their private property. The work of the organization in helping to get regulations put into place is what allowed Tom to be able to use PaveDrain instead of having to use traditional, non-permeable, concrete paving for his sidewalk project. Be sure to check out their website to see the great things they are doing to help identify smart solutions for our environment that help people live better lives: https://upstreampgh.org/ This is an example of a code they wrote that allows permeable pavers: https://ecode360.com/8423785.  

Doug said PaveDrain is working with a group in Milwaukee right now putting out funding for private land owners to implement products like PaveDrain. The challenge is that it’s hard to find those individuals who own 90% of the impervious area. Including 10-20% of a product like PaveDrain in an impervious area like a parking lot will go a long way towards getting a lot of water back into the ground and keeping it out of MS4s as runoff and all the ancillary things that create costs in the public sphere. 

Quotes:

• “Here's Tom’s moto: I don’t point fingers, I point thumbs. I do it myself.” (1:08 | Doug)
• “I think this is a good opportunity to to remind everybody, those of you maybe that haven't dealt with permeable paving or haven't dealt with pave drain, specifically: permeable paving one on one, the majority of permeable pavers are out there, the blocks themselves is what's permeable. PaveDrain is a permeable system. So the block itself is not permeable, and you don't fill in the joints with any aggregate; that's where the infiltration comes in.” (20:22 | Ty) 
• “The majority of our impervious surfaces are not in the public realm, they’re not in the street, they’re on private land” (35:26 | Tom)
• “We’re so conditioned to just put it back, to just keep doing it. You got sidewalk, just put the new sidewalk back. And people need to see there’s other ways out there, especially when it’s stormwater. I think it’s a change of mindset.” (30:21 | Tom)
  The views expressed are that of the individual and do not represent the opinions of any companies past, present or future.
  

Connect with Tom Batroney, P.E., CFM:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombatroney/

https://tombatroney.github.io/

 

Connect with Doug Buch:

https://www.pavedrain.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougbuch/

https://www.hydrocad.net/pavedrain.htm

 

Connect with Ty: 

Connect with Ty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tygarmon/

Sign up to be a guest: https://forms.gle/whijSz9Tio3iZda57

Check out The Stormwater World Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9hVXVJ5oXplf_V9XOPpR6A

Podcast Website: https://stormwaterworld.com

Stay Informed! Sign-up for the Stormwater World Newsletter: https://stormwaterworld.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Please don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe to Stormwater World Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!