Philadelphia Residents Join Cutting Edge of Stormwater Management

The Water Department and the Energy Coordinating Agency team up to install rain barrels on residential properties.

By Virginia C. McGuire for Patch.com

Pictured at left: This rain barrel, installed in Germantown last month, was paid for by the Water Department as part of an effort to reduce the storm water that overloads the sewer system.(Credit VirginiaC.McGuirePhotos)

Every time a heavy rainstorm hits the city, raw sewage from Philadelphia’s obsolete sewer system overflows into the rivers.

Think about that for a minute. Are you grossed out yet?

Most modern sewer systems have separate pipes for storm water and raw sewage, but Philadelphia, like many older American cities, has a combined system.

During severe thunderstorms, the deluge of water “overwhelms the carrying capacity of the line and we can’t process all that water at once,” said Liz Robinson, the executive director of theEnergy Coordinating Agency, a local non-profit that helps low-income households and others in the Philadelphia region to save energy. “Philadelphia is not currently in compliance with the Clean Water Act,” Robinson added.

Digging up the entire city and laying bigger pipes would cost about $5 billion, Robinson said.

Instead, the city wants to take a much less expensive route by finding ways to hold the water at the surface for 24 hours or so after a big storm, giving the system time to process the water at a rate it can handle.

Part of this strategy means getting Philadelphia residents involved in managing storm water—using rain barrels, green roofs, and landscaping features like trees and rain gardens.

Read the entire patch.com article HERE.