Permeable pavers are concrete blocks designed with holes in them. You can use them to build a driveway or a patio.
Although we see few of them in Arizona, they’re becoming more popular because they allow water, oil and other liquid spills to flow right through them and into the ground underneath. That means there’s far less standing water during a monsoon storm to flow into the sewers.
Most homeowners fill the holes with grass seed so grass grows up right through the paver. Your driveway is still drivable, but it looks more like a grass field than a concrete path.
In Phoenix and Tucson, homeowners with permeable pavers in the driveway often forego the grass because it’s too hard to keep green in the heat of summer. Good alternatives for filler are crushed granite, sand, colored gravel or drought-resistant ground cover.
Permeable pavers help control and stabilize soil erosion. And oil that leaks onto your driveway is far less likely to run off of a driveway made from permeable pavers, so it won’t wind up in the storm drains.
