Pervious Pavement Maintenance Guidelines

Maintenance Guidelines

Complete Pervious Pavement Maintenance Schedule and Procedures

Pervious pavement systems require a structured, multi-phase maintenance program to sustain their stormwater management function over time. Skipping routine maintenance leads to progressive clogging that eventually requires costly deep-cleaning restoration — or surface replacement. Following this schedule preserves infiltration capacity, extends service life, and keeps your facility’s stormwater infrastructure in compliance.

These guidelines apply to all pervious pavement types: pervious concrete, porous asphalt, and interlocking concrete permeable pavers. Maintenance frequencies should be adjusted upward for high-use sites, sites near heavy tree or brush cover, or areas with high potential for runoff contamination.

Pervious Pavement Maintenance Services Visual Maintenance Guide UNH Stormwater Center Case Study

Maintenance Schedule

Phases, Frequencies, and Required Actions

Monthly

Inspection

Monthly visual inspection keeps you ahead of developing issues before they require costly intervention.

Visually inspect for leaves, pine cones, pine needles, moss, and organic deposits

Visually inspect pervious surface for inorganic solids being deposited by rainwater flow from upland or adjacent areas and traffic.

Is the surface maintaining a satisfactory infiltration rate? Is there puddling or is water remaining within 30 minutes after rainfall has ended? If so, refer to periodic maintenance and/or spot cleaning.

Inspect for deterioration or spalling.

2–4× per Year

Routine Maintenance

More frequent for high-use sites, sites near heavy tree or brush cover, or areas with high runoff contamination potential. Also performed as needed based on inspection findings.

Remove organic deposits that have settled on the pervious surfaces. This can be done with blowing (with leaf blower or similar equipment), truck-sweeping, and/or dry vacuuming.

Removing deposits before they degrade and break down delays the need for deeper cleaning

Pervious surface before and after maintenance cleaning

Every 6 Months

Periodic Maintenance

Ideally performed immediately before and after winter. This is the most critical scheduled maintenance event for preserving surface permeability and preventing freeze-thaw damage.

Vacuum-assisted high-pressure water jet cleaning removes foreign material and organic debris from both surface and subsurface voids, restoring full percolation

At a minimum, vacuuming should occur after the last snow event of the year and just prior to the first snow event to remove accumulated debris

As Needed

Spot Cleaning

Used to address isolated areas of acute or subsurface clogging identified during inspection or after specific events.

Clay soils are generally easy to remove using a Shop-Vac for a small area, a walk-behind vacuum for a medium-sized area, or a vehicle-mounted vacuum for larger areas.

For small areas of acute or subsurface clogging, high-pressure washing or high-pressure washing and vacuuming have proven to be more effective than vacuuming alone to regain lost infiltration.

Late Fall + Snow Events

Winter Maintenance

Pervious pavement requires different snow and ice management than conventional surfaces. Using the wrong equipment or materials can permanently damage the porous structure.

Remove snow with a rotary broom when available

If a rotary broom is not available, snow should be removed using a plow with a non-metallic cutting edge. Metallic cutting edges tend to catch stones and cause raveling. Consider hybrid rubber, rubber composite, or ceramic composite cutting edges for the application.

Do not use deicing chemicals. If the pavement is working properly there should not be ice.

Small crushed aggregate (1/4 – 10, or similarly sized) can be used for anti-skid purposes. Do not use fine sands for this purpose. If anti-skid material is applied, it must be removed when winter maintenance ends (learn more about using crushed aggregate in the Pervious Concrete Pavement Maintenance and Operations Guide by the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association referenced in the appendix on page 11).

Perform aggressive periodic maintenance just before winter to ensure pervious voids are unclogged and free of organic deposits that may limit draining and contribute to freeze-thaw damage.

Close-up of pervious pavement surface before and after maintenance cleaning

As Needed

Restoration

Required when surface performance has degraded significantly, particularly if routine and periodic maintenance has not been performed. Restoration is accomplished with specialized cleaning equipment capable of simultaneous pressure washing and vacuuming.

Triggered when infiltration rate decreases more than 25% from initial value, or falls below 100 in./hr.

Neglected projects that have never been cleaned and are completely clogged should be restored to a drainage rate of 100-200 inches per hour, per ASTM C1701, by using specialized cleaning equipment.

Best accomplished using the Triverus MCV with simultaneous pressure washing and vacuum recovery

Chemical cleaning should be used with extreme caution to protect the aquifer, biological organisms within the pervious system, and the pavement structure

Ongoing

Administrative

Documentation and record-keeping are essential for demonstrating stormwater compliance and passing maintenance history to future property owners or operators.

Maintain maintenance logs; record dates, conditions, and results after each service event

Review the maintenance plan and adjust as necessary

When selling or transferring property, pass on the full maintenance history and maintenance plan to the new owner or operator

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