A member of the Miss Rockaway Armada at the Schuylkill launch site (Photo: Tod Seelie)

Today's Philadelphia Inquirer featured a trifecta of water and watershed-related news:

On the front page, reporter Sandy Bauers details the detective work the Philadelphia Water Department is doing to track down the source of iodine-131 levels observed in the Wissahickon in the spring. The prime suspect? Iodine-131 that is present in medication used to treat thyroid cancer. Full article

"Officials from the Water Department, the EPA, and the DEP emphasize that the levels detected are tiny and don't constitute a public health threat. Philadelphia's drinking water meets standards for radioactivity and remains safe, they say. Even if it was getting into streams above Philadelphia, iodine-131 has such a short half-life - half the radioactivity is gone after eight days - that amounts would be much reduced by the time they were swept downstream.

But, said Chris Crockett, the Water Department's deputy commissioner of environmental services, 'we don't want any iodine-131 in our water. I don't want it there for me or my kids and my family. And I don't want it for our neighbors and citizens.'"

Be sure to read our Iodine-131 Q&A for PWD's official word on the topic. Once again, Philadelphia's drinking water is safe to drink.

Elsewhere, a group of artists known as the Miss Rockaway Armada is building a salvaged-materials flotilla/performance space for a September art installation in the Schuylkill and Delaware. Commissioned by the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the installation features music, theatrical performances and ... oh, just go here and try to figure it out. Full article

"'This project is more about reinterpreting the water space in Philadelphia,' [said Tod Seelie]. 'The experience of breaking the shore-to-water barrier and actually being in the water has a lot more implications than you might think.'"

Beginning next week, storm drains in Pottsville—approximately 120 river miles upstream of Philadelphia—will be marked with the "No Dumping! Drains To River" stickers that have been familiar sights in Philly since 2000. Preventing litter from entering storm drains—whether in Pottsville or Philadelphia—helps improve water quality in the Schuylkill and, eventually, the Delaware. The Pottsville Republican Herald reported on the storm drain sticker initiative in a July 18 article:

"As Megan Blackmon, outreach and programs coordinator for Schuylkill Headwaters Association, walked along Pottsville's Mahantongo Street on Friday morning, she noticed some litter in the storm drain at the intersection of 20th Street. A paper cup from a fast-food restaurant. A plastic spoon. The remains of a napkin. She wondered what the cup had held. Soda? A milk shake? Whatever it was, if it went down the drain it would be headed toward the Schuylkill River.

Inspired by an effort in Philadelphia to stop dumping into drains like these, Blackmon and a group of volunteers from the Schuylkill YMCA in Pottsville are planning to post 150 plastic stickers 6 inches in diameter on streets near them."

The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary has more info on the Storm Drain Marking Program.

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.

Multiple BMPs at Waterview Recreation Center in East Germantown make this site a study in the different approaches to urban stormwater management. The porous concrete sidewalk in front of the recreation center allows for infiltration of stormwater. Where porous concrete did not replace traditional impervious sidewalk, stormwater tree trenches planted with turf grass and street trees also help capture stormwater. The porous concrete/tree trench system is also connected to modified inlets, which convey runoff from the street into the infiltration beds. And finally, two flow-through planters (pictured above) collect stormwater from the main building's roof; water flows from the partially disconnected roof leader to a concrete splash block, then into the waterproofed planter boxes landscaped with native plants. Any overflow is directed back into the city's sewer system. PWD partnered with Meliora Environmental Design and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for the Waterview Recreation Center project, a demonstration of how green infrastructure can work even with limited space and funding.

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