Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Abstract
The City of Pocatello, Idaho does not currently treat its storm water, but rather collects runoff in detention basins or discharges it into the Portneuf River. Nitrates from fertilizers and petroleum products enter local waterways and ultimately groundwater supplies. Porous concrete is regarded as a green product and has storm water filtering capabilities. Idaho State University (ISU) has been studying the use of scoria (vesicular basalt) to retain petroleum contaminants which migrate through porous concrete collection systems placed on driving surfaces. At present, ISU is conducting laboratory experiments using a physical model consisting of a porous concrete slab made with coarse scoria aggregate over a scoria base. The model is being used to determine the capacity of the scoria to retain water/petroleum fluids. Microbial bacteria, similar to those used to clean oil spills, are also being introduced and studied. A test section was poured in October 2011 in the topographically low area of damaged parking lot on the ISU campus. A scoria leach field was placed to discharge the collected water. Monitoring wells were placed below the slab and in the leach field to measure water levels. The slab was checked throughout the winter and will be monitored during the next year. To date the porous concrete has performed extremely well, and no additional pavement/curb damage has been observed in the vicinity. By employing scoria with porous concrete, precipitation runoffs from driving surfaces can be re-introduced to local aquifers with less pollution, preserving clean water for future generations.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Harker, Kevin T. and Mahar, James, "Use of Porous Concrete and Scoria Bases to Clean Groundwater Recharge" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 41.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session_06/41
Use of Porous Concrete and Scoria Bases to Clean Groundwater Recharge
Chicago, Illinois
The City of Pocatello, Idaho does not currently treat its storm water, but rather collects runoff in detention basins or discharges it into the Portneuf River. Nitrates from fertilizers and petroleum products enter local waterways and ultimately groundwater supplies. Porous concrete is regarded as a green product and has storm water filtering capabilities. Idaho State University (ISU) has been studying the use of scoria (vesicular basalt) to retain petroleum contaminants which migrate through porous concrete collection systems placed on driving surfaces. At present, ISU is conducting laboratory experiments using a physical model consisting of a porous concrete slab made with coarse scoria aggregate over a scoria base. The model is being used to determine the capacity of the scoria to retain water/petroleum fluids. Microbial bacteria, similar to those used to clean oil spills, are also being introduced and studied. A test section was poured in October 2011 in the topographically low area of damaged parking lot on the ISU campus. A scoria leach field was placed to discharge the collected water. Monitoring wells were placed below the slab and in the leach field to measure water levels. The slab was checked throughout the winter and will be monitored during the next year. To date the porous concrete has performed extremely well, and no additional pavement/curb damage has been observed in the vicinity. By employing scoria with porous concrete, precipitation runoffs from driving surfaces can be re-introduced to local aquifers with less pollution, preserving clean water for future generations.
