Cities represent a remarkable transformation of the landscape from natural to human-made. One of the most significant changes to the landscape that comes with urbanization is impervious cover. That’s anything that prevents rain from soaking into the subsurface: buildings, sidewalks, driveways, and the biggest culprits – streets and parking lots. Impervious cover is a big issue. When you pave paradise to put up a parking lot, you cause a pretty significant disruption to some really important natural processes in a watershed. But, not all cover has to be impervious.
Courtesy of Practical Engineering