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Philadelphia Water will be at the Philadelphia Police 12th District July 13 meeting to update residents of lower southwest Philadelphia about proposed green investments that will protect local waterways while adding new landscaped green spaces to streets, parks and breezeways.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. as a part of the 12th District Community Workshop and will feature food and a raffle provided by the Philadelphia Police Department. All residents are encouraged to attend this event to learn more and provide feedback!

What You Will Learn About

The local investments that we will talk about at the meeting are part of the Green City, Clean Waters program, which manages water from rain and snow storms using special green tools like rain gardens and stormwater trees that soak up water, keep pollution out of waterways like Cobbs Creek, and provide other benefits like cleaner air and cooler blocks.

Green stormwater tools, called Green Stormwater Infrastructure, also help to make sure local sewers don’t get flooded and spill sewage into our streams.

Over the last five years, Philadelphia Water has worked with neighborhoods, fellow City departments, businesses and others to create hundreds of green sites that are making our communities better places to live, learn, work and play. Today, Green City, Clean Waters investments in neighborhoods from Center City to Kensington and Overbrook are keeping about 1.5 billion gallons of polluted water out of our waterways each year!

Many of the projects that residents will learn about can be seen on the map below (larger version):

In addition to the street improvements, some projects are proposed for Finnegan Playground and Buist Park. Because green tools use plants like trees and flowers, the projects would bring new landscaping to these green spaces along with other improvements.

Added up, all the local projects could keep as much as 2.7 million gallons of polluted water out of the Darby-Cobbs and Lower Schuylkill watersheds during a one-inch rain storm—that’s like having 54,000 homes with 50-gallon rain barrels!

We Need to Hear from You

While the construction schedule hasn’t been set, it is still important that residents come to the July 13 meeting to talk about how these parks are used. Neighbors can also learn about different options for what types of plants and trees may be used, get information about programs for adopting the green sites, and sign up for workshops that can help add green tools (including free rain barrels) to homes through our Rain Check program.

We hope to see you on Wednesday. You can read more about Green City, Clean Waters here and get a printer-friendly flyer to share with neighbors here. Click the event listing below to share this meeting with friends on Facebook.