11 For 2011: Bells Mill Stream Restoration

PWD's Watersheds blog closes out the year with a list of 11 green missions accomplished in 2011, from innovative stormwater management projects and stream restorations to groundbreaking policy agreements and energy-generating solar arrays.

PWD has been working to return streams to their natural state and create stable, healthy waterways able to sustain native vegetation and aquatic life. 2011 saw the restoration of Bells Mill—a 5,100-foot tributary to the Wissahickon—nearly completed, with grading and rock structures in place that will help stabilize the streambank and reduce erosion. With the addition of some landscaping in spring 2012, the project will be fully complete.

Elsewhere in the Wissahickon watershed, stormwater wetlands at Cathedral Run and Wises Mill began functioning this year. These wetlands mitigate the impact of stormwater flows, reduce the amount of sediment that ends up in the streams and increase the diversity of aquatic vegetation in those wetland areas.