sustainability Review A Systematic Review of the Hydrological, Environmental and Durability Performance of Permeable Pavement Systems Mariacrocetta Sambito 1, * , Alessandro Severino 2 , Gabriele Freni 3 and Larysa Neduzha 4   Citation: Sambito, M.; Severino, A.; Freni, G.; Neduzha, L. A Systematic Review of the Hydrological, Environmental and Durability Performance of Permeable Pavement Systems. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4509. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084509 Academic Editor: Mayca Rubio-Gámez Received: 26 March 2021 Accepted: 16 April 2021 Published: 18 April 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 8, 90100 Palermo, Italy 2 Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy; alessandro.severino@unict.it 3 School of Engineering and Architecture, University of Enna “Kore”, 94100 Enna, Italy; gabriele.freni@unikore.it 4 Department of Theoretical and Structural Mechanics, Dnipro National University of Railway Transport Named after Academician V. Lazaryan, Lazaryan St. 2, 49010 Dnipro, Ukraine; nlorhen@i.ua * Correspondence: mariacrocetta.sambito@unipa.it Abstract: Due to urbanization, large portions of vegetated territory have been replaced by water- proof surfaces. The consequences are greater outflows, lower infiltration, and lower evapotranspi- ration. Pavement systems made with permeable surfaces allow the infiltration of water, ensuring reduction of runoff volume. In this paper, the methods of analysis of the hydrological and environ- mental performance of the pavement systems are reviewed in the context of urban drainage and regarding their durability. The purpose is to present an overview of the studies published during the last decade in the field. The Pubmed and Web Science Core Collection electronic databases were used to conduct the scientific literature survey. This generated 1238 papers, of which only 17 met the criteria and were included and discussed in this review. The evidence drawn from the knowl- edge on which the document is based provides useful critical interpretations of existing studies to progress the current understanding on hydrological performance and environment impacts in terms of conventional pollutant removal efficiency and the current permeable pavement systems. Keywords: hydrological performance; peak flow; permeable pavement systems; pervious concrete; runoff pollution; water quality 1. Introduction A critical design objective for urban rainwater management is the protection of flow paths and natural water balances. Achieving this goal is aimed at preventing and mitigat- ing disruptions in natural processes, which in turn contributes to making flow systems unhealthy. New planning techniques and engineering systems can help in the economic, environmental, cultural, and social impacts associated with urban stormwater. An increas- ingly accepted approach to address the challenges of stormwater design and management is the implementation of so-called LID (low impact development). This represents a design philosophy that encompasses planning methods and rainwater-management technologies in order to reduce as much as possible the negative impacts deriving from urban rainwater, such as the degradation of the quality of underground and surface water, the loss of recharge and aquatic biodiversity, floods, and erosion [1,2]. Rainwater management is also important regarding the pollutants it carries deriving from anthropogenic activities and environmental processes. For example, the suspended materials from vehicular traffic, tire wear, and oil and gas leaks from vehicles are deposited on pavements, and all of this material is carried by rainwater and infiltrates between the surface of permeable pavement and the other base layers, accumulating over time. The pollutants most detected are total suspended solids (TSS), metals, hydrocarbons, chlorides, bacteria, and nutrients. Furthermore, particular attention must be paid to the discharge of excess nutrients into water bodies as they cause Sustainability 2021, 13, 4509. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084509 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability