New Green City, Clean Waters tools will manage stormwater from the roof of this building and more. Credit: Philadelphia Water.
New Green City, Clean Waters tools will manage stormwater from the roof of this building and more. Credit: Philadelphia Water.

Francis Myers Recreation Center is a big, beautiful Philadelphia Parks and Recreation site in Southwest Philly.

For Philadelphia Water, that big rec center presents a big opportunity to manage the site’s stormwater, which can overwhelm local sewers when it rains and lead to sewage overflows that pollute our rivers.

That’s why we’re thrilled to be working with Parks and Recreation and the community to create green stormwater infrastructure for the area through our Green City, Clean Waters program. In addition to catching and filtering stormwater with plants, soil and stone, these important upgrades will also beautify the area, making Francis Myers a greener and even more inviting place for all residents.

This Thursday, Feb. 25, we’re meeting with residents to present plans for theses Green City, Clean Waters improvements and get to get feedback. If you live in the neighborhood or want to learn more about Philly's stormwater challenges, please join us!

The new green tools will capture stormwater runoff from the rec center roof and direct it to a rain garden and stormwater planters that surround the building. In all, there will be six planters at various places around the building. The rain garden will be installed in a yard to the southwest of the building.

Plans for the area also include new green infrastructure along Kingsessing Avenue near the rec center and Mt. Moriah Cemetery, as well as along Greenway Avenue and several other nearby streets.

Meeting details:

Date: Thursday, February 25th, 2016

Time: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Location: Francis Myers Recreation Center, 5803 Kingsessing Ave.

Live in Southwest Philly and interested in learning more about Green City, Clean Waters? We have lots of plans for green stormwater infrastructure in the area, and we’ll be talking about those projects on the Watersheds Blog this spring — so stay tuned!