Our very own fearless leader, Philadelphia Water Commissioner Howard Neukrug, sat down with the chief editor of Water Online, Kevin Westerling, for an extensive Q&A that shines light our internationally recognized green solution to Philadelphia's stormwater challenges - Green City, Clean Waters. And, we have to say, it's a flattering and fascinating read. Titled "'Super' Advice From Philadelphia's Water Commissioner," Westerling opens his piece by saying "It's not often that you have the opportunity to talk to a 'superhero' of sustainability," and goes on to cite our favorite magazine cover ever:

(Grid Magazine, December 2013.)

Here's a quick excerpt from the Water Online story's introduction:

Nationally, Neukrug's work is lauded and emulated. Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters program is a model of stormwater management, and also a template for urban beautification and revitalization. In addition to receiving numerous accolades for water management and pollution prevention — Green City, Clean Waters was started in 2011 to reduce Philadelphia's combined sewer overflows (CSOs) — Neukrug was recently granted the 2015 Arbor Day Award for PWD’s greening of Philadelphia.

Click here to read on as they discus topics like how Green City, Clean Waters could be reproduced in other cities, increased investment in drinking water infrastructure and what we're doing to reduce water main breaks, climate change, funding for green tools, how green infrastructure fits into the bigger picture of maintaining traditional infrastructure, and how tools like our biogas power generation at a Water Pollution Control Plant can tie everything together.

Water Online describes their site as "the leading source of technical information and thought leadership for the drinking water and wastewater treatment community."

The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) has stepped into the fray of this year’s city elections to offer up the “Good Economy Challenge” to all of the candidates for mayor and City Council. Highlighting the importance of a sustainable economy, they focus on five policy priorities: small business, procure local, solar homes, social enterprise and... Green City, Clean Waters! 

In a recent newsletter SBN wrote “Green City, Clean Waters is bringing many economic, environmental, and social benefits to the city, and is positioning Philadelphia as a national leader in urban stormwater management. Our next Mayor/Council Members should drive Green City, Clean Waters forward in a unified way, so that the program can continue to positively influence Philadelphia’s competitiveness, local and regional economy, environment, and quality of life.” (We're blushing over here!) And in their policy paper, SBN outlines three specific recommendations asking candidates to pledge their commitment to Green City, Clean Waters, to improve coordination across city departments to better support the program and to continue making Philadelphia a green infrastructure industry and innovation hub for the nation. You can check all of their recommendations here. 

Perhaps most importantly, SBN is hosting the Good Economy Candidates Forum, giving you a chance to hear directly from mayoral candidates on Saturday, April 25, 6:30-9pm. The forum takes place at Temple’s Fox School of Business, Alter Hall Auditorium, 1801 Liacouras Walk, Philadelphia, PA. You can register for the forum using this link. 

And they didn’t just stop at issuing the challenge and organizing a forum! To keep up the social pressure, SBN has provided all kinds of easy-to-use tools for people to spread the message of this challenge. They’ve provided suggested Twitter and Facebook language (we’re partial to this one) so YOU can be part of the effort to put these policies in front of the mayoral and council candidates—scroll to the bottom of this page here for more examples. 

We appreciate that SBN has been such a strong advocate for Green City, Clean Waters and included it in this challenge. If you agree that Green City, Clean Waters, and sustainable, local business is an important topic for our new leaders, then make sure you attend the Forum, spread the word and get involved!