Manhattan Beach is a community committed to helping the environment. For years the city has offered free waste reduction programs such as composting classes and recycling collection. Now, they have taken another significant step toward protecting the earth's resources by installing pervious concrete in nine city parking lots.

Pervious concrete pavement is a permeable, porous material that is often said to resemble a rice cake. Pervious pavements help improve ocean water quality by allowing storm and nuisance water to infiltrate into the ground, decreasing the amount of runoff carrying pollutants.

The Manhattan Beach pervious parking lot project was made possible by a $900,000 competitive grant awarded to the city from the State Water Resources Control Board. A demonstration of this environmentally friendly material was given as part of the city's Earth Day celebration last month. The event was attended by residents and city officials.

Pervious concrete is not a new material. It was originally used 100 years ago in Europe as structural insulation in buildings. It has been successfully used as a paving material in Europe for the past 80 years and in the American Southeast for the past 20+ years. It has also been used successfully in southern California and has recently been gaining increased popularity as more and more building owners and municipalities are considering the environmental impact of their construction and public works projects. Manhattan Beach's decision to use pervious is an example of this trend.

Ish Medrano, Engineering Technician for the City of Manhattan Beach, says, "Unlike conventional concrete, you can't do slump or compact tests with pervious, so it's a little harder to predict. Although pervious concrete has been used in many other cities, it's our first time using the material, so there is a bit of a learning curve."