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Governing Magazine - Placemaker Profile: Allan Jacobs
Introducing Sodpavers, the Green Alternative to Wide Swaths of Asphalt
E
very parking lot, driveway, sidewalk and road is an impervious surface acting as an unbroken barrier between the wet rain falling from the sky and the dry earth below. This results in a potentially dangerous condition called "puddling," unless the rain falling from the sky happens to be dry. Water draining from these surfaces gains speed and quickly rolls off all exposed ground, and even minor rains become small scale floods eroding what little soil is exposed, quickly filling municipal storm systems, while creating instant wetlands and temporary waterfowl sanctuaries.
Sodpavers provide a "green" solution for storm water management that integrates impervious surfaces and islands of biomitigating and bioremediating plant material. These bio-islands of phytoremediating plants, called "grass," are manufactured into the product and unwrapped by the environment after installation through a process called "precipitation."
Top: A sample of the revolutionary Sodpaver material. Bottom: Sodpavers in action.
The Sodpaver is an innovative interlocking patchwork of dirt with prepackaged soil and phytoremediating planting material, known as "grass seed." Once the paver is exposed to the elements (sun and rain) the mold and packaging biodegrade and help set the paver into place, and bioremediating plants begin to grow. These tough plants filter the contaminants from the storm water as it passes through the pervious heart of the paver, and create a nurturing environment for decorative planting material such as spring-flowering perennial bulbs and flowers, called "daffodils." Weed content guaranteed not to exceed .001%.
