Permeable Pavements as Sustainable Nature-Based Solutions for the Management of Urban Lake Ecosystems

Abstract

Permeable pavement systems (PPS) are becoming integral parts of the urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning approaches for the implementation of nature-based solutions (NbS) especially in rapidly developing regions. Global research has demonstrated that UGI is quite essential to regulate and establish the hydrological and ecological functions of urban aquatic ecosystems such as lakes. At a micro-scale level, design of storm water management systems requires detailed planning, as urban flooding has the potential to affect a huge population dwelling in the cities often without any warning. Such events cause drastic changes in the hydrological statuses of urban lakes, by gradually decreasing their natural resilience over a period. An associated risk with the degradation of urban lake systems pertains to their immense contributions in maintaining the ambient temperature profiles. The loss of the urban lake systems will directly lead to a substantial rise in the ambient air temperature and enhanced heat island effect. PPS can offer successful NbS to improve the resilience of the lake systems. PPS would also prove to be instrumental in mitigating the urban heat island effects by intercepting the excessive run-offs, increasing green water collection and storage, as well as by maintaining close-to-natural flow regimes in the case of urban lakes. Such micro-scale NbS offered by the design and implementation of PPS can offer huge environmental, social, and economic benefits in the long run. PPS can also offer direct benefits towards regulating the lake services and can assist in addressing the sustainable development goals for the lake ecosystems in the urban set-up, which are under stress due to various anthropogenic detrimental activities.