The experimental results of Nikuradse and the concept of hydraulically smooth, transitional, and rough flow regimes are commonly used as a benchmark for data interpretation and modeling of hydraulic resistance. However, Nikuradse's experiments were carried out in pipes with impermeable rough-walls whereas many geophysical flows occur over permeable walls and thus the permeability effects need to be quantified and accounted for. On the basis of our own experimental results, it is shown that wall permeability influences flow resistance dramatically and that the conventional ‘hydraulically-rough regime’, for which the friction factor depends only on the ratio of the roughness size to the flow thickness, does not apply to flows over permeable walls. Indeed, even at high Reynolds number ( Re), the friction factor progressively increases with increasing Re. Possible mechanisms that explain this behavior, as well as the implications of these results for modeling of the friction factors and hyporheic exchange in porous-bed rivers are discussed