Storm water from the City of Visalia’s downtown area flows into the local Mill Creek, the main waterway flowing through Visalia. To mitigate the issue of storm water pooling in parking lots, alleys and roads within the Downtown Visalia area, the City of Visalia hired Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group to design a sustainable solution that would capture/treat storm water draining into Mill Creek.

Funded by the Proposition 84 Stormwater Grant Program, the project consisted of removing approximately 58,630 square feet of impermeable asphalt concrete pavement from seven downtown public parking lots in five general locations. The pavement was replaced by 54,650 square feet of pervious concrete pavement and rain gardens. The Pervious Pavement Project, Downtown Visalia Parking converted existing urbanized parking lots with 95 percent impervious surfaces to passive storm water systems that mimic natural settings. The completed project captures all storm water on site and infiltrates it through pervious surface parking areas and rain gardens where it percolates and filters through the native sandy loam soil substrate into the groundwater supply.

The Low Impact Development (LID) components of this project capture and treat stormwater runoff that would otherwise be discharged directly into Mill Creek, ultimately improving water quality.