{"id":101,"date":"2019-05-16T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/sewer-training-facility-open\/"},"modified":"2022-12-03T11:43:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:43:25","slug":"sewer-training-facility-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/sewer-training-facility-open\/","title":{"rendered":"New \u2018Sewer U\u2019 Serves Infrastructure Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"big\">It looks a bit like a jumbo-size playground tucked into an industrial section of the city, but the jumble of concrete blocks containing variously sized tunnel sections at the new <strong>West Philadelphia Sewer Maintenance Facility<\/strong> actually serves a serious purpose: <strong>to train PWD workers doing the potentially dangerous work of inspecting and maintaining sewers<\/strong> and pipes in our <em>3,700-mile<\/em> wastewater system.<\/p>\n<p>Designed to give sewer workers <strong>hands-on experience<\/strong> in various types of sewers, the training course is just one of many useful features now being used at the sustainably designed facility, which celebrated its opening in\u00a0March.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly one-quarter of the <strong>more than 200<\/strong> sewer maintenance workers at PWD now use the space.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed\" style=\"margin: 1em auto;\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" data-footer=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/philadelphiawater\/albums\/72157705146951412\" title=\"West Phila. Sewer Facility Serves Infrastructure Workers\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"West Phila. Sewer Facility Serves Infrastructure Workers\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/47080200214_34fecab1ea_b.jpg\" width=\"768\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p><strong>A\u00a0state-of-the-art training and operations hub<\/strong> for the City\u2019s sewer infrastructure workforce, the project cost approximately <strong>$17 million<\/strong> to build. Located at about 2.5 miles above the Southwest Water Pollution Control Plant and just west of the Schuylkill River, the new campus represents a significant upgrade in the Water Department\u2019s capacity to support the complex range of training, equipment, and staff needs that come with maintaining <strong>thousands of miles of\u00a0sewers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>One of the final projects she saw to completion, the facility was a point of pride for <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/334687370\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">now-retired<\/a> Commissioner Debra McCarty:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"semibold\"><p>\u201cAs we modernize and improve the infrastructure protecting our neighborhoods and waterways, <strong>it\u2019s important to also invest in our workers<\/strong> and the facilities they depend on,\u201d <span class=\"light\">McCarty said in an announcement marking the March ribbon cutting celebration.<\/span> \u201cI\u2019m proud to see this site completed because it provides our workers with the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently <strong>and with confidence that they\u2019ll go home safely to their families every day.<\/strong> This is an investment that will serve Philadelphia for many years to come.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While existing workers can learn to use the latest equipment and techniques, the facility also improves the City\u2019s ability to hire new employees needed to perform critical Water Department positions.<\/p>\n<p>Water Department workers performing dangerous jobs, including sewer flushing operators and <strong>sewer \u201ccrawlers\u201d<\/strong>\u2014or inspectors\u2014are benefiting from new training and examination areas and improved tools for learning how to stay safe on the job, and do technical maintenance tasks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout accentblue-bg\">\n<h4>Highlights include:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"darkgray\">New and expanded <strong>cleaning and changing facilities designed for a more gender-diverse City workforce<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li class=\"darkgray\"><strong>Increased storage<\/strong> area for a variety of material types.<\/li>\n<li class=\"darkgray\"><strong>Climate-controlled storage for a specialized sewer flushing and vacuuming fleet<\/strong> to protect machinery from cold-weather damage.<\/li>\n<li class=\"darkgray\"><strong>Expanded parking<\/strong> for employees and PWD equipment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Certified with a <strong>Gold rating<\/strong> under the <a href=\"https:\/\/new.usgbc.org\/leed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design<\/strong> (LEED) system<\/a>, the new site uses a geothermal heating and cooling system and was constructed in line with City\u2019s pledge to reduce carbon emissions from municipal buildings.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, the property also contributes to the goals of the Water Department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhillyWatersheds\/videos\/vl.1679465825417559\/10154645369203791\/?type=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>Green City, Clean Waters<\/em><\/strong><\/a> program: a large stormwater management basin and parking lot paved with rain-absorbing material were designed to reduce runoff entering our sewers <strong>by millions of gallons per year.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Think you want to work in the public water industry?<\/h4>\n<p>Info about <strong>jobs at the Philadelphia Water Department<\/strong> can be found here:<\/p>\n<h5><a class=\"btn btn-lg btn-primary white bold\" href=\"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/jobs\" style=\"white-space: inherit;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Work With Water in\u00a0Philly<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sort of campus that serves\u00a0as a state-of-the-art training and operations hub for the City\u2019s sewer infrastructure workforce, the project cost approximately $17 million to build.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"custom_css":"","custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,51,52,71,83,85,90,98,111],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","tag-announcement","tag-infrastructure-investment","tag-jobs","tag-photos","tag-schuylkill-river","tag-sewer","tag-southwest-philadelphia","tag-sustainability","tag-west-philadelphia","wpautop"],"acf":{"suggested":null},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/phila.gov\/blog\/sewer-training-facility-open\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"New \u2018Sewer U\u2019 Serves Infrastructure Workers","url":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/sewer-training-facility-open\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/sewer-training-facility-open\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Infrastructure","author":[],"creator":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"@PhillyH2O Blog","logo":""},"keywords":["announcement","infrastructure investment","jobs","photos","schuylkill river","sewer","southwest philadelphia","sustainability","west philadelphia"],"dateCreated":"2019-05-17T00:01:00Z","datePublished":"2019-05-17T00:01:00Z","dateModified":"2022-12-03T16:43:25Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"New \\u2018Sewer U\\u2019 Serves Infrastructure Workers\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/water.phila.gov\\\/blog\\\/sewer-training-facility-open\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/water.phila.gov\\\/blog\\\/sewer-training-facility-open\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"Infrastructure\",\"author\":[],\"creator\":[],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"@PhillyH2O Blog\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"announcement\",\"infrastructure investment\",\"jobs\",\"photos\",\"schuylkill river\",\"sewer\",\"southwest philadelphia\",\"sustainability\",\"west philadelphia\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2019-05-17T00:01:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-17T00:01:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-03T16:43:25Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/phila.gov\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}