Photo Credit: PlanPhilly

Innovative green stormwater infrastructure will help breathe new life into the historic Cynwyd Train Station! The Lower Merion Historical Society is working to raise money over the next month for a new multipurpose stormwater harvesting system for the 125-year old train station. They’ve chosen Kickstarter as their fundraising tool—a website that allows individuals to make direct contributions to creative projects. 

Five years ago, the Historical Society began a program to refurbish Cynwyd Station, built in 1890 by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Although the station building is no longer used by Septa, once renovated, the site will be a trailhead with bathrooms and refreshments for the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, a walking and biking pathway. 

The biggest challenge in renovating the building is the waterlogged basement. The station’s current downspouts deposit rainwater too close to the building’s foundation, causing water to soak into the lower level.

North Street Design responded to the Historical Society’s dilemma with a pro-bono design for a combination stormwater tank, downspout planter and bench system for Cynwyd Station. The system will match the station’s aesthetics, manage rain water and serve as a seating area. 

While North Street is covering the design and installation costs of the stormwater system, the Historical Society needs your help covering supply costs. Through the Kickstarter website, the Society has about three weeks to raise about $2,000 in donations. They are already over half-way to their $5,000 goal! Help support this innovative project and learn more details about the plan by visiting the Kickstarter page. In exchange for a donation, the Historical Society is offering free memberships, guided tours and rain garden workshops. 

These pipes are part of the geothermal system at the Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant.

We wrap up the week with exciting cost savings measures at our Water Pollution Control Plants. 

Since the cost of energy is one of the driving forces behind our overall expense increases, we have sought to reduce the amount of energy we use, and to produce it ourselves from renewable sources. The Northeast Water Pollution Control Plant (NEWPCP) Biogas Project will generate electricity and thermal energy for use on-site, fueled mainly by biogas from the plant's digesters. This project is designed to generate 5.6 MW of power and is expected to reduce PWD’s energy costs by over $12 million over the course of the 16-year contract with renewable energy company Ameresco, Inc.

At our Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant, we’ve installed a 250 kW solar array (in addition to a geothermal project) expected to pay-off its entire installation cost in just nine years. And get this: the Federal Government paid for half of it! The project was made possible by $850,000 from the Recovery Act’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant awarded to the City from the Department of Energy (DOE) and $850,000 from PWD and technical assistance from DOE’s Solar America Cities program. After nine years… nothing but nice, clean, solar-generated electricity.

PWD remains committed to keeping our own costs low so that any rate adjustments we request are as reasonable and low as possible for our customers. These are just the first of what we hope will be many similar efforts in the future to lower our dependence on fossil fuels, contribute to a healthier environment, and lower our costs for energy. Look for more information about our waste-to-energy measures at PWD’s exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show, Saturday March 2nd through Sunday March 10th. 

New technology, like this tablet used for recording water shut-offs, will help make PWD's record keeping more effiecent and cost-effective.

One of the biggest complaints we hear from our ratepayers is the idea that while they pay their bills on time and in full, others who are perfectly able to pay are delinquent and getting their water for free. It’s a really easy way for people to lose faith in a utility and government in general if they feel like they’re shouldering the load while others are not. Trust us. We hear you.

We’ve made it a point to chase down delinquent ratepayers and increase automation of metering and billing systems to make it more efficient to collect. Since 2001, when we created the Revenue Protection Unit, we’ve been able to recover over $25 million in additional billings. The days of people getting unmetered, free water at the expense of everyone else are long since gone. While the occasional delinquent payer might still get away with skipping out on his or her bill for a short time, our improved technology means that they won’t get away with it for long. 

In fact, feel free to contact us at (215) 685-6300 if you suspect someone of stealing a water hook-up. We take these reports seriously and will fully investigate.

A rain garden manages stormwater at Liberty Lands Park, Northern Liberties.

During our last blog series we talked about how the rising costs of “big ticket items” are a large part of what’s driving PWD's rate adjustments. We should also explain that we aren’t proposing these adjustments without first doing everything we can to balance increasing costs with cuts to our expenses. 

Some of the most significant savings come from the Green City, Clean Waters plan. This is the City of Philadelphia's plan to meet requirements for reducing the overflow of sewage into the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers during rain storms. While other cities have been faced with costs as high as $8 billion for creating entirely new tunnels to separate storm water from waste water, PWD will spend about a quarter of that over the next several years on green infrastructure meant to keep much of the storm water from ever entering the system. The end result: fewer streets torn up for months to install new tunnels and more trees and other greenery throughout the city, providing cleaner air and water while reducing the urban “heat island” effect that cooks us each summer.

These are investments that will pay off down the road in lower maintenance costs, less strain on the current infrastructure and fewer gallons of water that need to be treated at our sewage treatment plants. This doesn’t even begin to capture the lower costs that will come from an overall healthier, cleaner environment when you factor in lower healthcare expenses and less need for massive clean-ups of our rivers and streams.

It’s a win-win… a less expensive way of enacting these mandated measures to clean up our stormwater process and lower costs down the line as we realize the benefits of these investments.

For more information about Green City, Clean Waters, check out the Year in Review to see how far we’ve come already and learn more about where we’re going.  For a highly technical analysis of the cost-savings from Green City, Clean Waters, view Section 9 of the plan which compares alternatives to the green infrastructure approach. 

Have you noticed Green City, Clean Waters projects in your neighborhood? Share them with us on our Facebook page.