This Place Is BMPing: Wises Mill Run Stormwater Wetland

Each week, we profile a BMP—short for Best Management Practices—to demonstrate how local businesses, organizations and neighbors are helping to keep our streams and rivers clean by managing stormwater on their property.

Wises Mill Run, a tributary of Wissahickon Creek, is a waterway that’s severely impacted by stormwater flows. After storms, the nearby neighborhood’s storm sewers discharge a large volume of water into Wises Mill Run, resulting in erosion of the creek’s bed. The Philadelphia Water Department led a project to divert runoff from the storm sewer into a two-tiered stormwater wetland that can hold 150,000 cubic feet of water. This wetland reduces peak flows to the creek by storing runoff before discharging it into the creek. The photo above depicts the wetland at work after Hurricane Irene.

Learn more about this stormwater BMP project, find it on a map and view photos at  the Temple-Villanova Sustainable Stormwater Initiative project page.