You bring a brown bag and we'll provide the green roof. Stop by 15th and Market on your lunch break today to see the debut of Philly's first green roof bus shelter (pictured above, under construction). Join Mayor Michael Nutter, PWD commissioner Howard Neukrug, Deputy Mayor of Transportation and Utilities Rina Cutler and Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski at the unveiling ceremony from 12:30 - 1:30.

Join Mayor Michael Nutter and the Philadelphia Water Department for the unveiling of Philly's first green roof bus shelter on Wednesday, June 15 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the northwest corner of 15th and Market streets. The event will serve as the official launch of PWD's Green City, Clean Waters plan; it will also mark the release of the 2011 Greenworks Progress Report and the recognition of PWD commissioner Howard Neukrug as the recipient of the Special Chapter Award from the Pennsylvania-Delaware Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Stop by to check out the green roof and get tips on what you can do to manage stormwater in your own home and keep our rivers and streams clean.

Bergdorff Brewery, N. 29th and Parrish St.

Sold-out event tonight at the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center: The Breweries of Brewerytown and Vicinity, a presentation by historian Rich Wagner. More details here. Philadelphia's brewing history is yet another example of the crucial role that our rivers and streams play in the economy, growth and well-being of the city.

"Brewers were attracted to the area ponded by the dam at the Fairmount Water Works for the ice they could harvest from the river. Then, in vaults carved along its banks, brewers would pack wooden hogsheads of lager beer with ice for six to eight months for the beer to 'ripen.' Brewerytown evolved into a neighborhood that accounted for about half the city’s beer production and included some of the largest brewers in the nation, who shipped their beer throughout the world.

Poised above the banks of the Schuylkill at the edge of Fairmount Park, the area between 30th and 33rd Streets from Girard Ave. to Oxford St. was home to 11 breweries, many with malt houses, a keg manufacturer and a bottling equipment manufacturer. It was a neighborhood whose atmosphere was once described as being like 'vaporized bread.'"

Phillyhistory.org has an excellent blog post on the topic; Wagner's brief history blames Prohibition for the eventual exodus of breweries from Brewerytown. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has an 1862 watercolor of Lipp's Brewery on the banks of the Schuylkill near Lemon Hill Mansion.

l to r: Adam Bram (PA DEP), Jenifer Fields (PA DEP), Howard Neukrug (PWD), David Katz, Gerald Leatherman (photo: GreenTreks)

"High fives all around."

That's just one of the enthusiastic reactions (from Brady Russell, eastern Pennsylvania director of Clean Water Action, published in today's Philadelphia Inquirer front-page article) to yesterday's historic signing of a consent agreement between the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Philadelphia Water Department to officially approve the Green City, Clean Waters plan. Officials from PWD and PA DEP met in Norristown to raise a tap-water toast and sign the agreement, which validates a 25-year, $2 billion plan to manage Philadelphia's stormwater largely through green infrastructure.

“We are thrilled and grateful that the DEP has recognized the incredible environmental and public value of this plan and has worked with the City to embrace its vision,” said Mayor Michael Nutter. “As a sustainable approach to stormwater issues, Green City, Clean Waters upholds the tenets of GreenWorks Philadelphia and makes significant progress towards Philadelphia becoming the greenest city in the country.”

PWD commissioner Howard Neukrug and PA DEP representatives sign the consent agreement.

“Through the Green City, Clean Waters plan, we seek to achieve a host of
tangible environmental, social and economic benefits for Philadelphians
while improving the health of the City’s creeks, rivers and urban
landscape,” added Water Commissioner Howard Neukrug. “That means not
only cleaner water for our citizens, but cleaner air, a higher quality
of life and meaningful jobs for future generations.”

Review the full Green City, Clean Waters plan here.