Penn State Students Work on Green Stormwater Infrastructure Projects

Image by Chelsea Scott

Saturday, October 5, Penn State students and volunteers helped restore two green stormwater infrastructure projects –a rain garden and a stormwater bumpout-- on Lancaster Avenue. “The two sites we worked on weren’t functioning properly. So we fixed them, prettied them up, mulched, planted — the whole shebang,” said Tommy McCann, an urban agriculture coordinator and horticultural educator at Penn State.

The idea for the volunteer day began when organizers from Penn State met with the Philadelphia Water Department to discuss possible partnerships and to tour stormwater infrastructure sites that PWD had plans to improve, including the rain garden and bumpout on Lancaster Ave. This cleanup day is part of a bigger initiative by Penn State Public Media to produce a documentary that tells the story of how cities acrossthe United States are learning to manage stormwater with green infrastructure. PennState plans to release the film, Water Blues Green Solutions, in late 2013.

Read more about PennState’s work on Lancaster Avenue and check out the preview for the Philadelphia segment of the Water Blues Green Solutions documentary.