For the Philadelphia Water Department, it's always Time to Build—the theme of Infrastructure Week 2018. Every day, our workers are busy maintaining critical water infrastructure through repairs, replacements, and major new projects.

We never stop doing this work because every business, organization and home in Philadelphia depends on around-the-clock access to water and sewers. Your bill—not tax dollars or federal spending—makes that possible, funding the critical infrastructure improvements necessary to ensure 1.6 million Philadelphia residents always have access to top-quality tap water and clean waterways.

One example of a major project made possible by our customers is the East Park Reservoir replacement project.

A $100 million investment, we are currently creating new water tanks at the site of the former East Park Reservoir, located between Strawberry Mansion and the Schuylkill River. 

By the end of this year, two of three, 30-million gallon tanks will be finished, replacing a reservoir constructed over 130 years ago and enhancing water quality and reliable service. Each tank can hold enough water to supply over 8,000 Philadelphia households with 125 gallons per day for an entire month.

That capacity will allow us to keep supplying high-quality drinking water to the city during normal and emergency water supply conditions. On the west side of this site, an unused reservoir that now acts as an important habitat for wildlife is being incorporated into the new Discovery Center, thanks to a partnership between PWD, the Audubon Society, and Outward Bound Philadelphia. 

In East Falls, your water bills funded a massive project installing 4,400 feet—more than four Comcast Center buildings—of new water mains. This protects the East Falls neighborhood from main breaks, but it also makes water delivery more reliable city-wide. 

At our Queen Lane drinking water plant, our engineers and planners are proud of a project that is upgrading water filter technology. We tested and adopted high-tech air scour filter cleaning that saves energy and water, improves the lifespan of filters and reduces maintenance costs.

More infrastructure investments made possible by our customers:

  • 380 City blocks targeted for water main replacement in the upcoming year
  • 715 Water main breaks repaired in our most recent fiscal year
  • 816 Miles of water mains and pipes inspected in 2017
  • +$188 million budgeted through 2021 to replace pipes and mains bringing you water