Community

As part of ongoing efforts to involve residents in designing these planned green improvements, we are currently working with neighbors and others who use Bringhurst Park to revamp the space and add stormwater management features. A meeting to discuss the project and collect feedback about possible improvements will be held at the park on Wednesday, April 4 at 5:30 p.m....

by Sam Boden, current VISTA | I jumped into my AmeriCorps VISTA service year with no idea what to expect. Even though I was provided with a project description and ample training from the city and CNCS (Corporation for National and Community Service), I wondered how I would make an impact while working for a municipal water utility....

In a recent talk hosted by the TTF Watershed Partnership, acclaimed author Richard Louv urged Philadelphia parents to make sure their kids are getting enough “Vitamin N”—as in nature. Thanks to the new Philadelphia Watershed Stewardship program, West Philadelphia youth can get a healthy dose of nature along with valuable life and career skills. There’s even a stipend to sweeten the pot....

Bethesda Presbyterian Church sits on a large plot of land in Northeast Philadelphia’s Bustleton neighborhood. The church’s monthly stormwater fees—higher than they would like—reflected the property's large proportion of impervious surfaces, which put a considerable burden on the local sewers during storms....

As we've seen over the last six years, to really transform Philadelphia's landscape on a scale that's big enough to have a real impact on our rivers, it takes more than just Water Department crews and contractors building rain gardens. In fact, it takes a whole city working together, not to mention supportive partners......

When leadership at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia decided to create a brand-new, centralized facility for pediatric care, their primary concern was easing the stress young patients and their families often face while undergoing treatment. Today, that vision is recognized at the 12-story Buerger Center, a colorful University City building that opened in 2015......

In Philadelphia, we're lucky to have more pools and spray grounds per resident than any other city in the U.S. Because we have all those great, free places to cool off, there's no reason to open fire hydrants when the weather gets hot or risk swimming in our unpredictable rivers, where drowning is always a risk. Opening hydrants can cause a number of dangerous situations......

The site of Roxborough's Pocket Park project, nestled between two buildings along Ridge Avenue, now features the beginnings of a water- and history-themed mural—a bright new addition to a still-developing space that the community hopes will be a keystone attraction for residents and visitors......

Members of the Philadelphia Water Department's Public Engagement team joined the local non-profit Diversified Community Services and area block captains on June 10 to clean the publicly-owned lot at Point Breeze Avenue and Mifflin Street—the future home of a rain garden that will soak up stormwater and bring regular maintenance to the site through Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters program....

From the very beginning, the Fairmount Park system has been an important tool for protecting Philadelphia's rivers and streams, and to read the history of our park system is to read a story of city planners striving to create natural buffers to protect rivers and streams from industry and development.....