#InfrastructureMatters: Infrastructure Week Highlights Investments in Philly’s Water System

All this week, we’ll be taking a look at the broad range of water infrastructure that Philadelphia Water maintains to make sure people, businesses and City departments have constant access to clean, top-quality water.

This exploration of our ongoing work is a part of Infrastructure Week (May 16-23), a national movement highlighting the importance of infrastructure and infrastructure funding. This year’s focus: #InfrastructureMatters.

Most people know that clean water matters. Recent events have raised awareness about the importance of safe public drinking water, and people across America are thinking about their local water supply today in way that they haven’t in decades.

But too often, people don’t realize how valuable water—and the infrastructure needed to protect and deliver it—is until something goes wrong. Infrastructure Week is about recognizing that #InfrastructureMatters so that we take care of what we have and invest in the vast water system that has evolved in Philadelphia over the last 200 years.

From protecting our source water and managing polluted runoff to replacing dozens of miles of water mains each year, Philadelphia Water is constantly working to make sure all of our customers have top quality water when they need it.

That means you can give your kid a bath tonight and fill your coffee pot in the morning. But it also means fire fighters can put out fires, brewers can make beer, bakers can make bread, factories can produce goods, and people everywhere can flush toilets. The list goes on, but the simple fact is, Philly would stop running if we didn’t do our job and maintain our 6,200 mile system of pipes and sewers.

Visit the Infrastructure Week website to learn more about this national conversation and take action by using their tools for contacting elected officials and more.

Infrastructure Week at Philadelphia Water

To kick off Infrastructure Week, we are talking about our ever-expanding network of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) and celebrating the achievement of hitting our five-year Green City, Clean Waters targets.

In the first five years of the program, our city added thousands of new green tools to Philadelphia neighborhoods. We’re proud to announce that we’ve beat goals set for us in 2011 by state and federal regulators because it means we will keep hundreds of millions of gallons of polluted water out of our rivers and streams this year.

Read about what that accomplishment means (and what’s in store for the next five years!) here: 5 Down, 20 to Go: Celebrating 5 Years of Cleaner Water and Greener Neighborhoods

#InfrastructureMatters: What meeting #GreenCityCleanWaters 5-year targets means + looks like https://t.co/pJZZAUNsTU pic.twitter.com/UnN2veAspf

— Philadelphia Water (@PhillyH2O) May 16, 2016

Follow us on social media and read the Watersheds Blog all week to learn more about what we’re doing to invest in your water infrastructure, and share these stories with others so that your friends can get a better understanding of the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to ensure our rivers are protected and clean water is available 24/7.

We’ll be looking at topics and projects like:

• Our 75,000+ storm drain inlets, how they’re maintained, and why they matter

• A new string of water stations that are increasing access to public water and curbing waste and litter

• The history of water infrastructure, as seen through eyes of one of Philly’s first water engineers

• How many miles of water mains and sewers we replace each year

• Big projects that are improving our drinking water infrastructure and reducing the impact of floods

If you value access to safe public drinking water + protecting our rivers and want others to know that #InfrastructureMatters, share these stories and join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the hashtags #DrinkTapPHL and #CleanWatersPHL!