More Funding for Philly’s Urban Watershed Efforts

Philadelphia has already established itself as one of the leading cities in green infrastructure, especially investments in urban watershed and storm water management. With a $2 billion urban watershed effort, called the Green City, Clean Waters initiative, already underway, the U.S. EPA recently announced another $5 million in grants to the city “to evaluate innovative green infrastructure practices in urban areas,” according to the EPA press release.

An article by Tina Casey provides some context for the recent funding, and also details some of the systems already being implemented by Philadelphia. According to Casey, “the goal is to reduce or eliminate excess sewer outflows that occur during rainfall or snowmelt.”

“Clearly, replacing concrete with planted areas calls for a long-term commitment to maintenance, so part of the Philadelphia initiative involves testing different plants, soils and strategies to keep those costs to a minimum.

The new $5 million grant will help this effort along in partnership with the recipients, which are Villanova University, Swarthmore College, Temple University, University of New Hampshire and University of Pennsylvania.

The partners are tasked to evaluate long-term performance and identify early-term benefits, in addition to analyzing the economic success of the initiative.”