As public-service campaigns go, the Streets Department's UnLitter Us initiative is making a huge impact around the city. You can see the UnLitter Us ads (featuring text from some of Philly's most gifted urban poets) at SEPTA stations and on buses, trains and subways; on TV and radio and the web. We'd like to chime in and mention that litter isn't just an aesthetic blight on street surfaces—it impacts our streams and rivers as well. For instance, trash causes major problems for PWD's green stormwater infrastructure; when litter blocks inlets to tree trenches and stormwater planters, water doesn't get a chance to infiltrate those systems and keep our sewer overflows in check. Litter also negatively affects the quality of water that drains into our sewers, and when storm drains get blocked due to excess trash, water is more likely to pond or flood roadways.

Get involved with the UnLitter Us campaign and visit its YouTube page.

The Stormwater Management Incentives Program (SMIP) was created to help businesses and non-profits green large, impervious properties and unburden the city's sewer system from high volumes of stormwater runoff. Today, the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) are pleased to announce $5 million in grants to promote stormwater management projects, including rain gardens, vegetated infiltration basins, porous asphalt and green roofs.

The SMIP grant is an important part of the Green City, Clean Waters plan, which includes an ambitious goal to convert 9,500 impervious acres to “green acres” that capture and manage the first inch of stormwater runoff to achieve beautiful, fishable, clean and healthy rivers and streams. The grant will also allow businesses, non-profit organizations and other non-residential customers to reduce their stormwater rates by providing funding for the design and implementation of these green infrastructure projects.

PWD, PIDC and the City of Philadelphia Commerce Department will be hosting grant workshops through February. Information on times and locations will be posted on PIDC’s website shortly. Applications are due March 31, 2012.

For more information, click here.

Picasso's Blue Period was OK, we suppose, but we think green will be the color of choice for up-and-coming Philadelphia artists for the next 25 years or so. That's the duration of the Philadelphia Water Department's Green City, Clean Waters plan, the inspiration for a new art contest open to Philly students grades K-12. Students can submit a drawing, short video or both, portraying the ways in which we can protect our local waterways through environmentally friendly practices. The deadline for entries is February 24; prizes include gift cards, art supplies, certificates and calendars. Our friends at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary are administering the contest; visit their site for more information and guidelines.