Recently, at the construction site of the Ningde People's Park upgrading project, reporters saw workers laying permeable pavement bricks (see photo). In the distance, a light gray permeable concrete park path, 5 meters wide and about 1,200 meters long, winds through the greenery of the park.
　　“This park path uses colored permeable concrete, which is durable, requires simple construction techniques, and has low cost.” said a relevant person in charge from the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. Permeable pavement has numerous voids. On rainy days, rainwater can quickly seep through the voids into the ground, be naturally retained, and then flow to surrounding flowers, grass, and trees. This not only prevents waterlogging on the road surface during rain and provides a comfortable walking experience, but also improves water conservation capacity, alleviates pressure from rainstorm waterlogging, and promotes the recycling of water resources.
　　It is understood that this is one of the ways the Ningde Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department actively practices the “sponge city” concept. The slow-traffic lanes on the Jinma Bridge and the slow lanes in Xipi Park also use this permeable paving technology. By promoting engineering paving technologies such as permeable concrete and permeable bricks, the area of hard-surfaced ground in the city has been significantly reduced. At the same time, by building rainwater retention facilities such as rain gardens, water storage ponds, wetland parks, and sunken green spaces, rainwater can be naturally retained, infiltrated, and purified, and the proportion of urban rainwater stored and infiltrated on site continues to increase. The “sponge city” concept lets the city “breathe freely” and makes people's lives more comfortable.