Many cities around the world struggle with flooding. Many cities around the world use concrete. So could the answer be… making concrete thirsty? Thirsty Concrete is a porous concrete that can absorb up to 880 gallons of water per minute. This is about 50x the average amount of drainage at 2-18 gallons per minute. Topmix Permeable was created by Tarmac, a British building materials company. The new concrete can hold more weight than the original permeable concrete that was only used for pedestrian areas. Since concrete happens to be the second most used product in the world that makes it possible for Topmix to transform the way surfaces are made in cities as well as to help deal with rainwater.
In America, many of the oldest sewage systems combine sewage with rainwater, which results in a toxic substance that goes into nearby water sources. Engineers have figured out that sewage systems aren’t good enough, so water treatment plants were installed at the end of the combined sewers to treat sewage and rainwater together. Even with the drainage systems being upgraded, the threat of increased rain and climate change continues to attack the drainage systems. Topmix is a perfect answer to these problems.
Topmix has three different types available depending on the ground type. The concrete types range from allowing all of the water to be absorbed into the ground, to being able to apply an impermeable membrane to allow the water to be used for other stuff, such as irrigation. The water can also be directed to another place if the ground below the Topmix is unable to absorb large amounts of water.
Currently, Topmix can only be bought in the UK and the concrete hasn’t been finished. Currently, Tarmac suggests only using it for like parking lots and driveways instead of putting it on highways because of high traffic. There is also some doubt on how the concrete will hold up in very cold or hot places due to the space between the pieces allowing water to freeze and erode it. It also doesn’t give a lot of protection from rising sea levels.
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https://www.businessinsider.com/how-magical-concrete-absorbs-water-2015-9
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221478532203365X
https://www.polishtheplanet.com/blog/article/water-absorbing-concrete
https://www.fhs-press.com/thirsty-concrete-a-revolutionary-draining-system/
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