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Porous patio options: pavers, poured concrete, or gravel

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1What 'permeable' actually means

Rain falling on soil, mulch or a groundcover infiltrates — it soaks in and can recharge groundwater. Rain falling on concrete, asphalt or a roof is impervious: it collects and runs off toward the nearest waterway instead, carrying whatever it picked up along the way.

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2How a permeable paver system actually drains

Stormwater moves through the void spaces between paver units or through a porous surface course, then through a filter layer, into a storage bed of open-graded aggregate underneath, where it's held temporarily before soaking into the native soil or exiting through an optional underdrain.

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3It's already common institutional practice

Universities including UNC have installed multiple permeable paver parking lots with infiltration and storage beds beneath them — this isn't an experimental material, it's an established stormwater strategy scaled down to backyard size.

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