This Company Is Reinventing Porous Concrete To Mitigate Stormwater Runoff Pollution and Flooding in Cities

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled climate change the single biggest health threat facing humanity today. The WHO notes that the effects of the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns are being felt worldwide, prompting a global wake-up call to halt the situation from getting grievous.

Deteriorating weather patterns can lead to prolonged and intense droughts, threatening crop growth, wildlife, and freshwater supplies. Climate change is also reported to cause more frequent and intense storms and extreme flooding events like increased stormwater runoff. Polluted runoff can end up destroying waterways and diminishing water quality in cities worldwide.

With an estimated 10 trillion gallons discharged into clean waterways every year — either through climate change or human activities — stormwater runoff pollution has quietly become a reportedly pervasive environmental issue many cities face today.

As cities have grown, natural landscapes have been replaced by massive amounts of impervious surface area that takes the form of streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and alleyways. 

Instead of absorbing into the ground naturally, rainfall can end up hitting these surfaces and become stormwater runoff that may pick up toxins and pollutants before discharging into ocean bays, lakes, rivers, and streams. Polluted runoff can then end up destroying waterways and diminishing water quality in cities. Currently, several key players — like Forterra Inc. FRTA, Hydro International HYD and Abtech Holdings Inc. ABHD — are doing their best to help the world deal with this challenge.

Three Main Factors May Be Exacerbating the Issue:

• Rapid urbanization: Urban and suburban development has resulted in nearly 40% of all U.S. land being impervious in the form of streets, sidewalks, and parking lots.
• Water infrastructure: Water infrastructure in the U.S. is old and deteriorating; in most major U.S. cities, urban water infrastructure is over 100 years old!
• Rainfall: Precipitation (rainfall) averages are going up nationally, and large, unpredictable weather events seem to be happening more frequently.

Revolutionizing Green Stormwater Infrastructure?

AquiPor Technologies, a startup that is crowdfunding on StartEngine, wants to help lead the effort to improve the situation in the U.S. and worldwide.

AquiPor reports that it is redesigning hard surface building materials, improving the way urban stormwater systems work and interact with the natural environment. The company’s advanced concrete technology is being designed to be as durable as normal concrete yet permeable enough to handle up to 25 inches of water every hour. The material can be produced to optimize strength or permeability, depending on the intended application.

With porosity measured at 1 to 5 microns, this new material can filter out stormwater pollutants and particulate matter without getting clogged by debris, allowing clean water to permeate and drain into the water table below. AquiPor material provides nature a helping hand by creating a natural water system in your backyard, neighborhood, and city.

AquiPor states that its advanced permeable surface technology is an inherently green alternative to traditional pavements. AquiPor’s technology is made with reclaimed materials and a proprietary, low-carbon cement. The Company is developing its technology to mitigate stormwater runoff pollution and urban flooding in our cities, while also providing the concrete industry with a low-carbon alternative to its otherwise high CO2 emitting footprint.  

An Opportunity in the Market?

U.S. infrastructure spending is expected to eclipse $1 trillion, and as the country looks to revamp critical infrastructure in the face of climate change, billions are expected to be spent to improve water infrastructure in the next 10 years, with an estimated $32 billion needed specifically for municipal stormwater upgrades each year.

Also, as more cities adopt green infrastructure approaches as part of their stormwater management plans, the global permeable pavement market’s projected value is forecasted to  eclipse $22 billion by 2026. 

The first AquiPor project is slated to showcase its technologies’ unique performance, cost-effectiveness, and environmental improvements. It is also meant to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s business model as an engineering, procurement, and construction management entity in the stormwater space.

AquiPor believes that conditions are ripe for it to make moves in the market:

• Market opportunity and timing: The U.S. is poised to spend more than $1 trillion on infrastructure over the next decade with a focus on green investments in water, renewable energy, and broadband.
• Green Concrete technology: Produced with reclaimed materials and a low-carbon cement, AquiPor’s proprietary concrete technology not only manages stormwater runoff right where it falls, but may also provide the concrete industry with an alternative to its high CO2 emitting processes.
• Team: AquiPor’s founding team has deep experience in the stormwater and green infrastructure sectors and its advisory board consists of industry experts spanning the construction, building materials, and financial industries.

The company is asking investors to join the AquiPor team on their mission to help bring water infrastructure into the 21st century.

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This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.