Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087

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Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Environmental assessment of a permeable pavement system used to

harvest stormwater for non-potable water uses in a building
Lucas Niehuns Antunes a,⁎, Enedir Ghisi a, Roni Matheus Severis b
a
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Department of Civil Engineering, Laboratory of Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Florianópolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil
b
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Department of Environmental Engineering, Life Cycle Assessment Research Group (CICLOG), Florianópolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Potable water savings achieved with the

permeable pavement system was 69.6%.
• Electricity savings in the supply of
potable water in the operation stage
was 8.9%.
• The greatest damages were related to
the implementation and end-of-life
stages.
• Permeable pavement system had lower
environmental impacts in most catego-
ries.
• Fine particulate matter formation and
global warming had the greatest impact.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The objective of this work is to present and to apply a method to environmentally evaluate a permeable pave-
Received 24 June 2020 ment system used to harvest stormwater for non-potable water uses in a building. Two pavement systems
Received in revised form 15 July 2020 were compared through life cycle assessment (LCA). The first system consists of a permeable pavement; in
Accepted 18 July 2020
this case, the stormwater filtered by the pavement is used for non-potable water purposes in a building. The sec-
Available online 24 July 2020
ond system consists of a flexible pavement (impermeable), with no stormwater harvesting, and with conven-
Editor: Huu Hao Ngo tional water supply in the building. The method was applied in a case study in a public building in southern
Brazil. Water consumption surveys were made and the potential for potable water and electricity savings in
Keywords: the building were estimated. In the inventory, input and output data related to each stage of the life cycle of
Permeable pavements the systems were gathered and quantified. In the impact assessment, it was found that, for both pavement sys-
Stormwater tems, the most significant damages were related to the implementation and end-of-life stages. The permeable
Life cycle assessment pavement system presented a lower potential for environmental impacts in most midpoint categories evaluated,
Environmental impact and also lower overall potential impact in the endpoint approach. The results also showed that the categories
with the greatest environmental impact for both systems were fine particulate matter formation and global
warming. The method proposed can be used as a basis for guiding planning and decision-making to improve
water infrastructure management through stormwater harvesting in urban centres.
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The increase of impermeable surfaces has caused an increase in the
frequency of flooding in urban centres. Such fact shows that traditional
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lniehuns@hawk.iit.edu (L.N. Antunes).
urban drainage systems are becoming outdated. Also, global warming
may lead to an increase in short-term floods since there is a strong cor-
relation between peak rainfall intensity and high temperatures (Wasko
and Sharma, 2015). As the number of floods has been increasing, it is
necessary to use new urban drainage systems, capable of restoring the
natural hydrological cycle in urban centres. Permeable pavements are
examples of systems that fulfil this function, by treating water locally

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141087
0048-9697/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
and reducing the possibility of overloading stormwater distribution net-
works (Brunetti et al., 2016; Vaz et al., 2020).
Permeable pavement can significantly influence hydrology and
other environmental effects, since its porosity and permeability are
high enough to percolate and temporarily accumulate the stormwater.
This reduces surface runoff without causing damage to the structure.
In this type of pavement, the structure is composed of the combination
of permeable sub-base, permeable base, permeable bedding layer and
permeable surface. The base and sub-base are made of open grain mate-
rials with aggregates that do not contain fines or with a small number of
fines. It results in a relatively high void ratio after compaction, allowing
the percolation of water (ABNT, 2015). According to Xie et al. (2019), a
typical permeable pavement may have a wide range of properties, for
example, effective air voids of about 15% to 30%, permeability of 20 to
500 m/day and compressive strength of 5 to 20 MPa.
Several studies have shown the benefits of using permeable pave-
ments. They can decrease the amount of stormwater runoff and im-
prove water quality concerning total suspended solids, phosphorus,
nitrogen and metals (Brattebo and Booth, 2003; Pagotto et al., 2000).
Also, the problem of traffic noise and heat island effect can be attenu-
ated at the same time (Jia et al., 2012; Sansalone et al., 2012; Park
et al., 2014; Knappenberger et al., 2017).
Permeable pavements have been studied by several researchers in
many applications with worthy results. Pratt (1999) analysed a perme-
able pavement used as a permanent reservoir in a rainwater harvesting
system in a hostel in the United Kingdom, where the pavement stores
filtered stormwater as well as rainwater collected from the roof of the
building. Hammes et al. (2018) studied the use of stormwater collected
from a permeable pavement in a university and concluded that the sys-
tem could provide up to 54% potable water savings. Other studies have
also evaluated the use of stormwater harvested from permeable pave-
ments for non-potable purposes in buildings (Antunes et al., 2016;
Thives et al., 2018; Vaz et al., 2020). Such use provides potable water
savings, which encompasses the concept of new urban drainage sys-
tems with the reduction of global water scarcity.
The use of technologies necessary for alternative water supply sys-
tems requires the use of extra materials. Thus, the embodied energy
over the life cycle of these materials must be verified. There is also a
need for a methodology capable of providing an accurate estimate of
the sustainability of drainage systems. This assessment cannot be linked
only to environmental benefits related to the lifespan, being necessary
assessments in the previous and subsequent life cycle stages (Maiolo
et al., 2017).
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is considered a valid method for verify-
ing the environmental profile of a product or system. Through LCA, it
is possible to quantify a variety of environmental impacts and benefits,
enabling the analysis and comparison of projects. LCA has been applied
to assess the environmental performance of water infrastructures. The
assessment takes into account the environmental impacts associated
with the construction, operation, maintenance and disposal of various
green infrastructure technologies, such as permeable pavements (Li
et al., 2018; Mei et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2013; Spatari et al., 2011).
Wang et al. (2018) compared, through LCA, the use of a conventional
pavement and a permeable pavement on a typical four-lane secondary
road. They concluded that 73.5% of energy consumption, 46.7% of green-
house gas emissions, 98.3% of lead emissions and 99.7% of zinc emis-
sions could be avoided by using permeable pavement instead of
conventional pavement. Sousa et al. (2012) evaluated the life cycle en-
vironmental performance of permeable pavements and bio-retention
basins (green infrastructures) comparing them to scenarios of water re-
tention and treatment using traditional drainage systems (grey infra-
structures). The authors concluded that due to the lower use of
electricity during the life cycle, green infrastructures emitted 75 to
95% fewer greenhouse gases.
LCA studies are essential in guiding urban drainage system planning.
Such studies assist in decision making when considering multiple
objectives, such as increasing water resources and reducing natural di-
sasters and environmental impacts (Antunes et al., 2018). However,
the studies found in the literature are limited to performing the LCA
only for the structure of the permeable pavement itself, not taking
into account the harvesting of stormwater and its use in non-potable
purposes in buildings.
Thus, this work presents an environmental evaluation of using
stormwater filtered by a permeable pavement system for non-potable
water uses in a building, compared to a traditional drainage system. Un-
like other studies found in the literature, this work presents an assess-
ment of the permeable pavement life cycle, including the entire
hydraulic system necessary for the use of stormwater in buildings.
This study aims to contribute to the scientific advancement of state of
the art related to the subject, bringing current data and a new assess-
ment method. Moreover, it provides scientific instructions for choosing
more sustainable drainage systems, which improves stormwater man-
agement in urban centres.
2. Method
The purpose of this method is to benchmark the environmental im-
pact of two scenarios through life cycle assessment. In the first scenario,
it is considered the installation of a permeable pavement in the parking
lot of a building; stormwater filtered by the pavement is used for non-
potable water purposes in the building. In the second scenario, for the
same building and parking lot, a traditional drainage system is consid-
ered, that is, conventional pavement in the parking lot with no use of
stormwater, and all water uses in the building supplied by the water
utility. Thus, the environmental effects accumulated over the life cycle
of the mentioned scenarios are compared. A summary of the steps in-
volved in the method is given in Fig. 1.
The method includes analysis of the potential for potable water and
electricity savings. The environmental analysis is performed to deter-
mine the initial embedded effects, operation effects, maintenance ef-
fects and end-of-life effects. The input and output data related to the
systems are catalogued in an inventory proposed for the quantification
of environmental effects. In the life cycle impact assessment phase, quan-
tified data in the inventory are converted to environmental impacts.
2.1. Scenario 1 – permeable pavement with the use of stormwater
2.1.1. Permeable pavement model
The permeable pavement model consists of a draining asphalt con-
crete layer, a choker course layer and a reservoir layer, as well as a wa-
terproof membrane, which has the function of preventing water from
passing through from the pavement structure to the subgrade. Fig. 2
shows the permeable pavement model adopted.
The draining concrete asphalt layer has a thickness of 5 cm and is
composed of aggregates of 4.8 to 9.5 mm and stone dust. The mixture
is made up of 5% ground rubber modified binder. The infiltration rate
of the pavement is 80%, as shown in the study of Hammes et al. (2018).
The choker course layer is 3 cm thick and is made of 19 mm granite
aggregate. The reservoir layer, in turn, is composed of gravel of 37.5 mm
and its thickness must be sized according to the calculations presented
in Section 2.1.4. The porosity of the reservoir layer was obtained as an es-
timate according to the literature review on the subject, which indicates
the possibility of porosity between 25% and 40% (Hammes et al., 2018).
2.1.2. Potential for potable water savings
In order to determine the potential for potable water savings in the
building by using stormwater collected from the permeable pavement,
it is considered that stormwater is used for non-potable uses such as
flushing toilets and urinals, cleaning outdoor areas, and garden
watering. It is also considered that the volume of stormwater collected
from the parking lot is stored in a lower tank and then pumped to an
upper tank. The Netuno computer programme, version 4, was used for
 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
Fig. 1. Flowchart of the steps of the method.
the assessment of the potential for potable water savings for different
tank capacities (Ghisi and Cordova, 2014). The programme was vali-
dated by Rocha (2009).
Input data for the computer simulations are daily rainfall, the surface
area of the permeable pavement, daily average potable water demand
in the building, stormwater demand (as a percentage of potable water
demand), and infiltration rate of the pavement. The output data that
were used in the work are the potential for potable water savings for
different tank capacities, stormwater consumption and amount of
stormwater spilled from the tank.
2.1.3. Potential for electricity savings
The potential for electricity savings that could be obtained
through the use of the permeable pavement was estimated using
Eq. (1). These savings would be generated through the reduction of
electricity used in the treatment and supply of potable water,
which would be replaced with stormwater in non-potable uses in
the building. This would bring financial benefits to the public water
utility.
ES ¼ C sw  Ec
where: ES is the potential for electricity savings (kWh/day); Csw is the
daily stormwater consumption in the building (m3/day); Ec is the
Fig. 2. Permeable pavement model adopted in the study.
3
electricity consumed by the public water treatment and distribution
system (kWh/m3).
2.1.4. Permeable pavement hydraulic design
The thickness of the reservoir layer, which is used as a temporary
reservoir for stormwater that infiltrates through the permeable pave-
ment, was calculated using Eq. (2). NBR 16416 (ABNT, 2015) recom-
mends that the rainfall return period should be at least ten years,
considering a minimum duration of 60 min.
H max ¼ ðΔQ c R þ P– f T e Þ=V r ð2Þ
where: Hmax is the total thickness of the reservoir layer (m); ΔQc is the
excess precipitation of the contribution area for a given design rainfall
(m); R is the ratio between the contribution area and the permeable
pavement area (Ac/Ap); Ac is the contribution area (m); Ap is the perme-
able pavement area (m); P is the design rainfall (m); f is the soil infiltra-
tion rate (m/h); Te is the effective filling time of the reservoir layer,
generally equal to 2 h (h); Vr is the void ratio of the layer
(dimensionless).
ð1Þ
2.1.5. Additional treatment and quality of stormwater
NBR 15527 (ABNT, 2019) states that the quality of stormwater in
urban areas must meet the parameters contained in Table 1 in order
4 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
Table 1
Minimum water quality parameters for non-potable uses.
Source: ABNT (2019).
Parameter Value
Escherichia coli b 200 / 100 ml
Turbidity b 5.0 uT
pH 6.0–9.0
to be used for non-potable purposes. For this study, chlorination dosage
disinfection was considered, as it is one of the cheapest and easiest
forms of treatment. As stormwater is filtered by the permeable pave-
ment, no waste disposal device or first flush disposal device were con-
sidered in the stormwater system. The permeable pavement has the
characteristic of removing pollutants from the first flush (Pagotto
et al., 2000; Brattebo and Booth, 2003).
2.2. Scenario 2 - traditional pavement, conventional drainage and water
supply
In the second scenario, the traditional pavement model to be used in
the parking lot is of the flexible type, with bituminous binder for the
construction of the surface course. The pavement consists of two layers:
the base (subbase, reinforcement) and the surface course. Thus, the ser-
vices that involve the construction of the so-called traditional pavement
in this study are earthwork, subgrade regularization, subbase compac-
tion, base and asphalt cover.
The drainage of stormwater in this scenario is done through gravity,
through gutters, gratings and pipes that take the water drained through
the pavement to the public stormwater management system. The build-
ing water supply for this scenario is the conventional type, i.e. the public
water utility.
2.3. Comparison of the systems through life cycle assessment
The comparison process of the two scenarios is based on the LCA
guidelines, following the methodology proposed by the NBR ISO
14040 and 14044 standards (ABNT NBR ISO 14040, 2009; ABNT NBR
ISO 14044, 2009). The following steps are contemplated in this paper:
objective and scope; inventory analysis; life cycle impact assessment;
and life cycle interpretation.
Fig. 3. System boundaries of the scenarios: (a) permeable pavement with stormwater harvesting and (b) traditional pavement with conventional drainage and water supply.
2.3.1. Objective and scope
The method of this study is based on the study developed by Ribeiro
(2015). Herein it was used to assess the environmental impact of the
implementation of a permeable pavement system in a parking lot
where stormwater filtered by the pavement is used in non-potable
water purposes in a building. The method can be applied to any region
in the world and to any types of buildings, whether these are in the de-
sign stage or already built, in different scenarios and configurations.
2.3.1.1. Function identification. The system function was considered two-
fold. The first function chosen for the comparison of the two scenarios
was water supply in the building. The second function is the drainage/
infiltration of stormwater that falls on the parking lot. In the first sce-
nario (with permeable pavement), the water used for non-potable
uses is the stormwater collected from the pavement. In the second sce-
nario (parking with traditional pavement and conventional drainage),
the water used for non-potable uses in the building comes from the
water utility, while stormwater that falls on the parking lot is drained
to the public management system.
2.3.1.2. Time horizon. For the evaluation performed in this study, 20 years
was considered as the time horizon, as observed in other researches of
hydraulic systems (Ribeiro, 2015; Vieira, 2012; Proença et al., 2011;
Chiu et al., 2009). The replacement of equipment and components
that have a lifespan shorter than such a time horizon was accounted
for in the evaluation.
2.3.1.3. Functional unit. The functional unit chosen for the comparison
between the permeable pavement and the traditional pavement was
the water supply (in m3) and the drainage of the parking area (in m2)
for the building over the time horizon of 20 years.
2.3.1.4. System boundaries. This is a cradle-to-grave study. Thus, the sys-
tem boundary comprises the production of materials and components
for the systems, including extraction of raw materials, processing and
transportation; replacement of components over the lifespan of the sys-
tems; electricity consumption for system operation; and final disposal
of components at the end of system lifespan.
Fig. 3 shows the boundaries of the system with permeable pavement
and the boundaries of the system with traditional pavement. In each
boundary there are two functions, i.e. function 1 related to the water
supply in the building and function 2 associated with the type of
 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087 5

pavement used in the parking lot and drainage or infiltration of Table 2

stormwater that falls on the pavement. It is noticed that in the perme- Midpoint impact categories considered in the study.

able pavement scenario, there is a connection between the two func- Categories of environmental impacts Units
tions since stormwater infiltrated in the parking lot is used in the Global warming kg CO2 eq
building. In the traditional pavement scenario, in turn, there is no such Stratospheric ozone depletion kg CFC-11 eq
connection, as stormwater is drained directly into the public manage- Ozone formation (Human health) kg NOx eq
ment system. Fine particulate matter formation kg PM2,5 eq
Ozone formation (Terrestrial ecosystems) kg NOx eq
Terrestrial acidification kg SO2 eq
2.3.2. Life cycle inventory Terrestrial ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DCB
The modelling of environmental inputs was performed using Freshwater ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DCB
SimaPro software (PRé Consultants), version 9.0.0, and Ecoinvent 3.5 Marine ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DCB
database (Wernet et al., 2016). Ecoinvent has an inventory of materials Human carcinogenic toxicity kg 1,4-DCB
Human non-carcinogenic toxicity kg 1,4-DCB
and processes coupled with environmental impact calculation tools. Land use m2a eq
Two scenarios were modelled in the SimaPro software, the “permeable Mineral resource scarcity kg Cu eq
pavement scenario” and the “conventional system scenario”. The input Fossil resource scarcity kg oil eq
of raw materials and energy obtained from the database was entered Water depletion m3
into the software, and as a result, the programme presented outputs
in the form of emissions in soil, water and air.
Environmental effects are divided into initial embedded effects, op- consist on characterizing the effects of midpoint impact categories on
eration effects, maintenance effects and end-of-life effects. The initial areas at the endpoint level. After the normalization stage, the ReCiPe
embedded effects involve the materials used in the systems; including method groups the midpoint categories into three endpoint categories:
components manufacturing and transportation. The operation effects Human health, Ecosystem quality and Resource scarcity.
include the electricity consumed for the operation of the systems in
the time horizon. The maintenance effects, in turn, involve the materials 3. Case study
and services used in systems maintenance (including maintenance of
the permeable pavement such as twice-yearly sweeping). The end-of- A public building and its parking lot located in the city of
life effects include the materials for final disposal, including Florianópolis, southern Brazil, were considered as a case study to
transportation. apply the method. The building consists of two blocks of two floors,
with a total area of 8025 m2 and a population of 271 people.
2.3.2.1. Lifespan of system components. The lifespan of motor pumps, Section 3.1 presents the design of the permeable pavement with
pipes, connections, water tanks of HDPE (high-density polyethylene) stormwater harvesting, while Section 3.2 presents the design of the tra-
and devices used to improve stormwater quality were considered ac- ditional pavement with conventional drainage. It is noteworthy that
cording to the information provided by the manufacturers (3P both scenarios are theoretical and were modelled to determine the po-
Technik, 2019; Roebuck et al., 2011). The stormwater lower tank, tential for potable water and electricity savings and the potential envi-
made of reinforced concrete, as well as the structure of the drainage sys- ronmental impacts generated by each system.
tem, had their lifespan estimated considering the durability of the con-
crete (BS 7543, 2003). The traditional and permeable pavement lifespan 3.1. Design of the permeable pavement and stormwater harvest system
was considered to be 20 years (Mello et al., 2016; TXDOT, 2011; HIDOT,
2002; KCC, 2001; University of Maryland, 2016; Yong et al., 2013). 3.1.1. Rainfall data
Rainfall data were obtained from HidroWeb site – Hydrological In-
2.3.2.2. Transport of materials and system components. The transport dis- formation Systems, National Water Agency. Fig. S1 (in the Supplemen-
tances between the place of manufacture of materials and system com- tary data) shows the daily rainfall of Florianópolis from 2002 to 2017.
ponents and the building under study are determined considering the These data were used in the simulations in the Netuno programme for
manufacturers located closest to the building site. the calculation of the potential for potable water savings. Fig. S2 (in
the Supplementary data), in turn, shows the average, maximum and
2.3.3. Life cycle impact assessment minimum monthly rainfall of Florianópolis for the same period.
After completing the life cycle inventory phase, the next step is the
life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). At this phase, all environmental 3.1.2. Stormwater collecting area
loads in the inventory are associated and characterized in terms of po- The area for collecting stormwater is 5800 m2, involving the side-
tential environmental impacts. walk areas (350 m2 of contribution area) and the parking lot area itself
The impact categories selected for this study were chosen because (5450 m2). The sidewalks, although not permeable, also contribute to
they are the most used in LCA research in the field of construction (Li runoff, flowing to the permeable pavement.
et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2018; Maiolo et al., 2017; Azarijafari et al.,
2016; Ribeiro, 2015; Sousa et al., 2012; Kalbusch, 2011; Huang et al., 3.1.3. Water consumption in the building
2009; Santero and Horvath, 2009). In total, fifteen midpoint impact cat- Fig. S3 (in the Supplementary data) shows the annual water con-
egories were selected. Table 2 shows the environmental impact catego- sumption in the building (between 2014 and 2018). Fig. S4 (in the Sup-
ries of the method adopted herein and the corresponding units of plementary data) shows the average, maximum and minimum monthly
performance defined in SimaPro, ReCiPe 2016 method. consumption. The monthly average for the same period was 227 m3.
For the relationship of the elementary flows of the selected catego-
ries, the ReCiPe 2016 method was used, with a hierarchical perspective 3.1.4. Potential for potable water savings
and average global reference data (Huijbregts et al., 2016). Simulations for different stormwater tank capacities were run. The
At midpoint level, all life cycle inventory parameters were classified maximum tank capacity assessed was 100,000 l, and the interval be-
and characterized into appropriate impact categories in the cause and tween each capacity was 5000 l. The infiltration rate of the pavement
effect chain of the environmental mechanism. These categories do not is equal to 80%, which is the result found for the permeable pavement
represent the final consequences of emissions listed in the inventory model tested by Hammes et al. (2018). The demand for stormwater in
but are a set of indicators of potential impact. Endpoint categories the building is equal to 82.0% (non-potable uses include toilet flushing,
6 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
urinal flushing, cleaning outdoor areas, garden watering and car
washing).
Table S1 (in the Supplementary data) shows the input data used in
the Netuno programme, while Fig. S5 (in the Supplementary data)
shows the potential for potable water savings according to the lower
tank capacity. Using the difference between potentials for potable
water savings equal to 0.5%/m3, a tank capacity equal to 50,000 l was
chosen by means of the Netuno programme. The potential for potable
water savings achieved was 69.6%, which represents an average
stormwater consumption equal to 5260 l/day. Regarding the
stormwater supply, such a tank capacity completely meets the water
demand for non-potable purposes in 83.3% of the days in a year, par-
tially in 3.2% and not at all in 13.5% of the days. The volume of
stormwater spilled daily is 16,864 l.
In order to decrease the amount of stormwater spilled from the tank
it would be possible to use a permeable pavement with partial infiltra-
tion into the soil. In this case, the soil type of the subgrade and its per-
meability should be evaluated (Hammes et al., 2018). Another
possibility would be the use of stormwater in nearby buildings, optimiz-
ing the stormwater harvesting system.
3.1.5. Potential for electricity savings
Fig. S6 (in the Supplementary data) shows the electricity consump-
tion for the water supply system in Florianópolis from 2004 to 2017. The
average electricity consumption in water supply systems was 0.39
kWh/m3. Through Eq. (1), the potential for electricity savings was
found to be 2.05 kWh/day. Therefore, the reduction of electricity con-
sumption by the water utility would be 14.77 MWh in 20 years (system
lifespan). However, the stormwater harvesting system requires a higher
consumption of electricity due to the extra motor pump used for
pumping stormwater, as explained in Section 3.1.6.
3.1.6. Electricity consumption for operation
Table 3 shows the electricity consumption for the operation of the
systems in the two scenarios analysed. Considering that Scenario 1 (per-
meable pavement with the use of stormwater) requires the operation of
two motor pumps (for the pump of potable water and stormwater),
there is higher electricity consumption in this scenario due to the oper-
ation of motor pumps. However, considering the potable water savings
obtained by the system, and considering the electricity savings in the
treatment and supply of potable water, it can be noted that Scenario 1
consumes less electricity than Scenario 2 (conventional scenario). This
difference is equal to 0.54 kWh/day and 3859 kWh over the 20-year
time horizon, representing electricity savings of 8.9% in the operation
stage.
3.1.7. Permeable pavement hydraulic design
The thickness of the reservoir layer, which is used as a temporary
reservoir for water infiltrating the permeable pavement, was calculated
using Eq. (2). The average design rainfall intensity was calculated con-
sidering the minimum values recommended by NBR 16416 (ABNT,
2015). As a result, a rainfall intensity equal to 102.7 mm/h was obtained.
The constant output flow is 24.81 m3/h, which corresponds to the
discharge of 595.39 m3 of stormwater in 24 h. Stormwater volume
Table 3
Electricity consumption for the operation of the systems.
Scenario Supply type Electricity consumption (kWh/day)
Water pumping
Stormwater 2.99
1 Potable water 1.51
Total 4.50
2 Potable water 2.99
Difference between scenarios
was calculated by multiplying rainfall intensity (102.7 mm/h) with
the drainage area (5800 m2). The effective drainage area (Aa) is
5450 m2, as seen in Section 3.1.2. Thus, the specific output flow is
4.55 mm/h.
R, the ratio between the contribution area (5800 m2) and the perme-
able pavement area (5450 m2), is equal to 1.06. The void volume (Vr) is
40% (Hammes et al., 2018). Through Eq. (2), the reservoir layer thick-
ness was found to be 26.2 cm. Fig. S7 (in the Supplementary data)
shows the reservoir layer thickness obtained for the permeable pave-
ment in this case study.
3.2. Design of the conventional scenario
The second scenario considers a traditional pavement model, with
conventional drainage and therefore no use of stormwater in the build-
ing. In the traditional pavement sizing, the sidewalk and curb sizing
were omitted, as these are identical for both scenarios.
Expected traffic to the parking lot is light. Therefore, a base of 15 cm
and a surface course layer of 3 cm were adopted. The minimum value
adopted for the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of the subgrade was 8%.
As for earthworks, the services preserve a minimum slope of 0.5% longi-
tudinally and 1% to 3% transversally.
Subgrade and base regularization work involves the following ser-
vices: scarification and scattering of materials, homogenization of dry
materials, wetting and homogenization of moisture, compaction and
finishing. The base is composed of granular material, with CBR greater
than or equal to 40% and expansion less than or equal to 0.5%. The
equipment used in these services is grader, disc harrow, water trucks
and road rollers.
For pavement priming, the diluted asphalt rate used is 1.2 l/m2. The
asphalt binder indicated is CM-30 diluted asphalt. The equipment used
to perform the priming is a rotary mechanical broom, spreader truck
and manual spreader.
Regarding the drainage of stormwater, 150 mm diameter pipes were
used, which, through gravitational and through gutters, receive the
water that falls on the pavement and send it to the public stormwater
management system.
4. Comparison of the systems through life cycle assessment
The results obtained for the case study comparison are reported in
this section.
4.1. Functional unit
The functional unit − parking area drainage (in m2) and water sup-
ply (in m3) for the building over the 20-year time horizon − was calcu-
lated based on the results shown in Sections 3.1.2 and 3.1.3. It totalled a
drainage area equal to 5800 m2 and a water supply equal to 54,404 m3.
4.2. Inventory phase
In this stage, all input and output data of the systems studied in
the life cycle stages were compiled and quantified (from raw
Electricity consumption over the
20-year time horizon (kWh)
Water treatment and supply Total electricity for operation
– 2.99 21,767
0.90 2.41 17,544
0.90 5.39 39,311
2.95 5.93 43,170
0.54 3859
 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087 7

material extraction to final disposal). Tables S2 and S3 (in the Sup-
plementary data) show the specifications and quantities of the com-
ponents of the systems. The tables include the chlorination system
for the stormwater treatment, piping to handle overflow from the
permeable pavement during large storm events and also piping and
valves to allow the non-potable water system to receive water
from both the potable and stormwater sources. Table S4 (in the Sup-
plementary data) presents the distances of transportation consid-
ered in the life cycle analysis. Waste generated throughout the life
cycle of the systems was considered to be sent to an environmentally
licensed landfill, exclusively for construction debris, located approx-
imately 32 km away from the building.
4.3. Life cycle impact assessment
4.3.1. Midpoint impact categories
Fig. 4 shows the results of the normalized environmental impacts ac-
cording to the environmental effects observed in the life cycle stages of
each scenario under study. These results are normalized by the ReCiPe
midpoint method in relation to the effects over an average citizen in a
given year.
The results show that, in most of the categories evaluated, the initial
embedded effects, related to the extraction of raw materials,
manufacturing and implementation of the system components,
accounted for the most significant portion of the life cycle impacts.

Fig. 4. Normalized environmental effects observed in the life cycle stages of each scenario using the ReCiPe midpoint method (effects caused over an average citizen in a given year).
8 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
The high impact observed for the initial stage in most categories is
mainly due to a large number of materials and equipment required for
the implementation of the systems (paving and hydraulic system).
This generates a large number of extractions, impacting on the catego-
ries related to resource depletion, land use, toxicity, among others.
Bhatt et al. (2019) evaluated the life cycle of green infrastructures
(bioretention basins and permeable pavements). The study showed
that raw material manufacturing has the greatest impact (approxi-
mately 50%) on ozone depletion, global warming, air pollution potential,
acidification, carcinogenic emissions, respiratory effects and fossil fuel
depletion. Such a result is similar to that found in this study.
The second stage with the most significant impact in most of the cat-
egories evaluated is the end-of-life effects. We considered the simple
disposal of materials in landfill as the final destination of the system
components, generating gas emissions without capture and treatment,
making the disposal stage the second most impacting.
The operation effects accounted for a considerable portion of the im-
pacts (in Scenario 1 from 1.0% in the land use category to 34.2% in the
water consumption category; and in Scenario 2 from 0.6% in the land
use category to 31.1% in the water consumption category). This stage
considers the electricity consumed in the treatment and distribution
of potable water by the water utility and the electricity consumed by
the motor pumps in the building. This impact is higher in the categories
of water consumption, freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, and strato-
spheric ozone depletion. The maintenance stage presented the lowest
impact, mainly due to the small number of activities (i.e. twice-yearly
sweeping in the permeable pavement and components replacement)
compared to the other stages of the life cycle.
Wang et al. (2018) compared the use of a permeable pavement with
the use of a conventional pavement on 10 km of a highway. The use of
permeable pavement resulted in a reduction of 49 TJ in energy con-
sumption, 6700 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, 0.1 tons of lead
Fig. 5. Comparison of environmental impacts (characterization) of scenarios by means of the ReCiPe midpoint method.
emissions and 1.0 ton of zinc emissions. It was observed that the most
significant reduction in emissions occurred over the operation stage.
Fig. 5 shows a comparison of the total environmental impacts for
each impact category and for each scenario evaluated by means of the
ReCiPe midpoint method. Except for the mineral resource scarcity
category, all other categories had a more significant impact for Scenario
2 - Traditional pavement and conventional drainage.
The mineral resource scarcity category had a 13.8% greater impact
for Scenario 1. The iron mining operation had the greatest impact in
both scenarios, with 197 kg Cu equivalent in Scenario 1 (42.5%) and
154 kg Cu equivalent in Scenario 2 (38.6%). This result can be explained
by the fact that the scenario with stormwater use has two motor pumps,
one for pumping stormwater and another for pumping potable water,
while the conventional scenario has only one, used for pumping pota-
ble water. Due to the small mass of motor pumps compared to the
rest of the system, the midpoint mineral resource scarcity category
had little impact compared to the endpoint categories, as explained
in Section 4.3.2.
Regarding the global warming category, the scenario with perme-
able pavement and stormwater utilization presented a reduction of
48.2% in CO2 equivalent emissions compared to the conventional
scenario. The “diesel burned in building machine” process was the larg-
est contributor of Scenario 1 to this category, with emissions of
1.74E+04 kg CO2 eq., accounting for 13.8% of total emissions. The high
diesel consumption is due to the transportation of raw materials to
the factory, transportation of materials from factory to building, and
transportation from building to final disposal (landfill). Scenario 2, in
turn, had the “heat production at hard coal industrial furnace” process
as the most impacting for the global warming category, with
6.52E+04 kg CO2 eq. (26.8% of emissions). The high value found for
this process is mainly due to the production of hot mix asphalt
(HMA), used as a conventional pavement surface course.
 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
Anastasiou et al. (2017) evaluated the life cycle of permeable pave-
ments compared to conventional pavements and concluded that the
total CO2 emission of the permeable pavement was only 17.7% of the
traditional pavement production. It is noteworthy that such a study con-
sidered only the pavements, not the use of stormwater for non-potable
uses.
However, in the study conducted by Lu et al. (2019), in which the au-
thors assessed energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions dur-
ing the life cycle of different pavement types, no significant difference
was observed between the impervious pavement and the permeable as-
phalt pavement tested. These results can be explained because, during
pavement production, only the gradation of aggregates had a difference,
while the other procedures during paving were similar for both types of
pavement.
In the fine particulate matter formation category, the impact for the
permeable pavement scenario was 43.8% lower compared to the con-
ventional scenario. In Scenario 1, diesel processing was again the pro-
cess that most contributed to the impacts in this category, i.e. 50.6 kg
of equivalent PM2.5 (17.4%). In Scenario 2, the heat production process
again had the most significant impact, i.e. 132 kg of equivalent PM2.5
(25.4%). The fine particulate matter formation category is related to air
pollution, having a substantial negative impact on human health, rang-
ing from respiratory symptoms to hospitalizations and deaths, repre-
sented by the PM2.5 equivalent unit, i.e. particulate matter with a
diameter lower than 2.5 μm (Huijbregts et al., 2016).
In the fossil resource scarcity category, the permeable pavement sce-
nario had an impact reduction equal to 36.4%. Oil production (extrac-
tion, transportation, refining and distribution) was the most impacting
process (with over 75% of impact in both scenarios), followed by poly-
ethylene production. Oil is widely used in both scenarios as a base prod-
uct for various materials such as asphalt binder, asphalt blanket, diluted
asphalt, petroleum asphalt cement, among others. Polyethylene is the
main component of the tanks of the hydraulic systems of both scenarios.
Fig. 6. Comparison of scenarios 1 and 2 using the ReCiPe endpoint method (single score).
9
In the stratospheric ozone depletion category, the electricity genera-
tion and distribution process accounted for the most significant impacts
in both scenarios. In the ozone formation category (human health and
terrestrial ecosystems), the greatest impacts were caused by diesel con-
sumption in the transportation of raw materials, components and final
disposal. High ozone concentrations lead to increased respiratory dis-
tress in humans, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-
ease. Ozone also has a negative impact on vegetation, including reduced
growth and seed production (Huijbregts et al., 2016).
Diesel consumption was also the process with the most signifi-
cant impact on the terrestrial acidification category in both scenar-
ios. Consumption occurs mainly in the implementation and end-of-
life stages, due to the transport of materials. The permeable
pavement scenario achieved a 53.2% reduction in equivalent SO 2
emissions for this category compared to the conventional scenario.
In the terrestrial ecotoxicity category, the “brake wear emissions”
process, related to the transport process in the implementation and
end-of-life stages, had the greatest impact in both scenarios. In the
freshwater and marine ecotoxicity categories, the most impacting
component was sulfidic tailing, which is related to the final disposal
tailings deposited in the landfill.
Regarding the human carcinogenic toxicity category, the “slag from
unalloyed electric arc furnace steel” process has the greatest impact in
both scenarios. Such a process is related to the final disposal of slag in
the landfill. In the human non-carcinogenic toxicity category, sulfidic
tailing was again the most impacting component in both scenarios.
In the land use category, the “road construction” process, related to
the construction of the parking lot (implementation stage) and the
landfill (end-of-life stage), had the most significant impact in both sce-
narios. In the water consumption category, the impact for the scenario
with permeable pavement and stormwater utilization was 14% lower
compared to the conventional scenario. For both scenarios, electricity
production was the process with the greatest impact.
10 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
4.3.2. Endpoint impact categories
Fig. S8 (in the Supplementary data) shows the normalized environ-
mental impacts for the two scenarios, showing midpoint impact catego-
ries with their contribution to endpoint categories. The most significant
impact categories for both scenarios evaluated were: fine particulate
matter formation, global warming (damage to human health) and fossil
resource scarcity.
Fig. S9 (in the Supplementary data) shows the ReCiPe grouping for
the two scenarios under study. It is noted that the category of damage
to human health is the most impacting, and that, in the three categories
evaluated, Scenario 2 – Traditional pavement and drainage, conven-
tional water supply – has the largest potential impacts.
The ReCiPe endpoint method calculates a total score indicator, which
is a unique impact value considering different weights for each mid-
point and endpoint category. Such a score does not only refer to the
final three categories but also takes into consideration the contributions
of the midpoint categories that participate in the respective damage cat-
egory (Huijbregts et al., 2016).
Fig. 6 shows the comparison of the two scenarios in a single score.
The result is the sum of weighted data from impact categories, which
aims to define which scenario has the life cycle with the highest poten-
tial for environmental impact.
The life cycle of the traditional pavement and conventional drainage
scenario has a larger global impact than the life cycle of the permeable
pavement and stormwater use scenario. The most noticeable impacts
are related to the fine particulate matter formation and global warming
(damage to human health).
4.4. Life cycle interpretation
The hotspots, that is, the processes with the best opportunity for en-
vironmental improvements, are the following: diesel consumption, pro-
duction of hot mix asphalt and oil production. These results show that
processes related to the consumption of diesel and asphalt materials
(both derived from petroleum) are the most harmful in the life cycle
of both scenarios. Therefore, it is recommended that the impervious
paving system be replaced with other forms of paving, such as the use
of pavers or other interlocking blocks, which do not use asphalt as a
binder.
Regarding the use of stormwater collected in the permeable pave-
ment, even with the use of an extra motor pump and the implementa-
tion of a reinforced concrete lower tank, the first scenario presented
the lowest environmental impact in fourteen out of fifteen midpoint
categories evaluated. In the three endpoint categories (damage to
human health, ecosystems and resources), the permeable pavement
scenario was also less impacting in all categories.
Considering these results, it is recommended to use permeable
pavement with stormwater harvesting as a way to reduce the environ-
mental impacts from traditional paving and conventional drainage and
water supply.
5. Conclusions
This work proposed a method to evaluate and compare environ-
mentally, through life cycle assessment, two drainage systems for a
parking lot: the first composed of a permeable pavement system, with
subsequent use of stormwater filtered by the pavement for non-
potable water uses in the building; and the second consisting of a tradi-
tional pavement, with no use of stormwater and with conventional
water supply in the building.
A public building with its own parking lot was selected as a case
study. A public building was chosen because it is a building with high
water consumption in end-uses such as urinals, toilets, cleaning of out-
door areas and garden watering, i.e. activities that do not require pota-
ble water.
It was found that in the scenario with permeable pavement and use of
stormwater, the potential for potable water savings reached 69.6%, which
is equivalent to an average stormwater consumption of 5260 l/day in the
building. With the potable water savings achieved, electricity savings
were also generated in the treatment and distribution of potable water.
The potential for electricity savings, when compared to the conventional
scenario, was 0.54 kWh/day and 3.86 MWh over the 20-year time hori-
zon, representing electricity savings equal to 8.9% in the operation stage.
The reduction in water demand leads to significant environmental bene-
fits and decreases the stresses associated with public water suppliers.
The environmental impact assessment of the life cycle of the two
scenarios was performed using the ReCiPe method. The permeable
pavement and stormwater use scenario had a lower potential for envi-
ronmental impact in fourteen out of fifteen midpoint categories evalu-
ated compared to the conventional scenario. Through the ReCiPe
endpoint method, it was found that in both scenarios the categories
that had the greatest environmental impact were fine particulate mat-
ter formation and global warming. From the single score calculated
using the ReCiPe endpoint method, it was shown that the conventional
scenario has a higher overall impact than the permeable pavement sce-
nario. Thus, taking into account the conditions of this case study, it was
found that the scenario with permeable pavement and stormwater use
is more environmentally advantageous. Although these results are par-
ticular to the case study in terms of region and building typology, the
method can be applied in any region by building designers to aid guid-
ing planning and decision-making.
The method provides an insight into where improvements are
needed to achieve better environmental performance for urban drain-
age systems. The results showed that the initial embedded effects (ex-
traction of raw materials, fabrication and implementation of the
system components) were responsible for the most significant part of
the environmental damages. The end-of-life effects (final disposal in
landfill) and operation effects (electricity consumption required for
the operation of motor pumps and also for the treatment and distribu-
tion of potable water by the water utility) appear as stages with also
great impact. The installation of a stormwater permeable pavement sys-
tem requires additional equipment and components such as water
tanks, devices and motor pumps. However, such a system does not re-
quire drainage devices, as in the conventional scenario, and uses in its
composition less amount of petroleum-derived materials, such as as-
phalt materials, which results in lower overall impact.
The method proposed herein can be easily adapted to different re-
gions and is important to enable the proposition of improvements to
minimize the generated environmental impacts. The results of this
study are also important for guiding planning and decision making to
improve water infrastructure management in urban centres.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Lucas Niehuns Antunes: Conceptualization, Methodology, Soft-
ware, Investigation, Writing - original draft. Enedir Ghisi: Conceptuali-
zation, Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Project
administration. Roni Matheus Severis: Methodology, Software, Writing
- review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The first author is thankful for Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de
Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the scholarship during the devel-
opment of this research.
 L.N. Antunes et al. / Science of the Total Environment 746 (2020) 141087
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141087.
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