The Philadelphia Water Department is dressing up our big blue rain barrels! Visit the voting page before February 13th to pick your favorite design.

Students between the ages of 11 and 21 from Laura W. Waring School and YESPHilly participated in a design workshop with artists from the Mural Arts Program and educators from Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center and the Philadelphia Water Department to create exciting original artwork that we hope to eventually wrap around the rain barrels distributed by PWD. Using the same technology you might have seen on colorful trash cans or painted garbage trucks, these designs will be shrink-wrapped around the barrels, completely covering them – as if they were painted.

We’ve picked our favorite eight illustrations, and now we look to you, our partners and the citizens of Philadelphia, to vote for your favorite design. The final three designs will brighten select neighborhood corners, stoops and other community landscapes in Philadelphia. Rain barrels collect rainwater from our properties’ downspouts and hold it until we use it (i.e., for watering lawns or window boxes).

The on-line poll is open now through February 13. Cast your vote for your favorite design and then look at PWD’s rain barrel program to learn more about how you can help manage stormwater!