The big news around here is, as Forbes Magazine so elegantly put it, Hot Poop. More specifically, what hot poop can do for energy costs. Last week, Mayor Nutter was joined by city, state and federal officials to cut the ribbon on a new geothermal project at PWD's Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant that uses heat from wastewater (sewage) to warm the facility's buildings. The city partnered with NovaThermal Energy, a Philadelphia-based company, to implement the geothermal heating system. The 1 million BTU/hour unit in the plant's basement (pictured below) can provide heat at approximately 50% of the current cost, which would save $216,000 over the next 15 years. 

A scatologically correct article in Thursday's Inquirer offered more details:

"Wastewater picks up heat from a number of sources, including dishwashers, showers, and industrial processes, said Jimmy W. Wang, NovaThermal’s chief engineer. There’s also the “biomatter” that still contains heat, Wang said during a visit to the project Wednesday, although he used more scatological terminology. During the winter, sewage is about 60 degrees, and in summer it can exceed 75 degrees. That’s plenty of energy that can be extracted through a conventional heat pump. Haider said the technology is more efficient and cost-effective than traditional geothermal systems, in which deep water wells are drilled into the bedrock to capture heat from the Earth."

For more info on the wastewater geothermal heating project, see the official press release.

Call it a collaboration of infiltration—the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Philadelphia agreed yesterday to become partners in a 25-year plan to use green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff. In a signing ceremony at the Fairmount Water Works, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson joined Mayor Nutter, PWD Commissioner Howard Neukrug and other officials to assure the EPA's support for Green City, Clean Waters. The long-term plan aims to restore water quality in our local rivers and streams by absorbing rain water into the ground; green infrastructure such as tree trenches, green roofs and rain gardens mimic natural processes that intercept and infiltrate rain water before it enters the sewer. 

Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Sandy Bauers expanded on the issue and the economic advantages of green infrastructure in today's front-page article:

"Philadelphia's problem is that about 60 percent of the city's sewers are a combined system that carries both sewage and storm water. During heavy rainfall, the system overflows, and untreated water containing raw sewage, litter, road pollution, and other substances spurts from more than 150 overflow pipes into streams and rivers. The overflows total about 14 billion gallons a year. Many other large cities have decided to build massive—and hugely expensive—underground tunnels to solve the problem. Washington proposed three of them, the largest eight miles long and 23 feet in diameter. Philadelphia had considered it, but then realized it might be looking at the wrong end of the pipe. Instead of managing what came out of the sewer system, perhaps it could manage the water before it enters the system."

More photos from the signing ceremony after the jump.

The Philadelphia Water Department and the Mt. Airy Business Improvement District are rolling out the rain barrels along Germantown Avenue this spring. As a part of PWD's Stormwater Management Incentives Program, 15 rain barrels will be installed along Germantown Avenue to manage runoff and collect water for flowers and other plantings along the corridor. But that's not all—Newsworks has info on the barrels' decor:

"Another component of the project is a 'call out to artists' to decorate the barrels 'using the themes of community, eco-friendly, and conservation' [Mt. Airy Business Improvement District Executive Director Hollie]  Malamud-Price said.  Those interested in participating would be responsible for pick-up, painting, and return of rain barrels to BID. After that, BID will install the barrels along the avenue during an unveiling event."

The rain barrels should arrive next week; artists can contact Hollie Malamud-Price via the Mt. Airy BID website for details.

Everybody knows that March marks the beginning of spring NCAA March madness Women's History Month Fiber Philadelphia, a biennial for fiber/textile art. How appropriate, then, that PWD has commissioned local yarn artists Jessie Hemmons and Christina LeFevre (pictured above) to decorate our Soak It Up! events with yarn-bombed street trees. WHYY's Newsworks has the story:

"Hemmons and LeFevre wrapped the trunks of trees at East Montgomery Avenue and Blair Street with blue and green sleeves pointing to an underground trench, unseen beneath the sidewalk pavement, that keeps about 7,000 gallons of untreated water from spilling into the river.

'Since most people can connect with art moreso than green stormwater technology, we thought it would be a good way to make that connection,' said Tiffany Ledesma Groll, a consultant with the Philadelphia Water Department."

The next Soak It Up! event is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, March 22, at 4:30 at Belfield Avenue and East Walnut Lane in East Germantown.