There's still time to register for a #LOVEYourPark service day! Sign up here: https://t.co/JM6flvIeoE pic.twitter.com/F9LYsW8quU

— Philly Parks & Rec (@PhilaParkandRec) May 11, 2017

From the very beginning, the Fairmount Park system has been an important tool for protecting Philadelphia’s rivers and streams, and to read the history of our park system is to read a story of city planners striving to create natural buffers to protect rivers and streams from industry and development.

Rather than evolving away from that original purpose, our parks are today actually becoming more and more important for protecting the city’s seven watersheds.

As Philadelphians gather for Love Your Park Week—a celebration of our green spaces involving more than 80 volunteer service days and 40-plus special events in parks across Philadelphia from May 13-21—many of them will be tending to Parks and Recreation facilities that now feature special green tools created through the Green City, Clean Waters program.

The Philadelphia Water Department’s partnership with Parks and Recreation has been essential in achieving the ambitious goals of Green City, Clean Waters: drastically reducing pollution from runoff and sewer overflows through the creation of green infrastructure systems that soak up water from storms while creating new green spaces in our neighborhoods.

In 2016, Philadelphia celebrated the program’s fifth year and the fact that we’re exceeding greening and water quality targets set back when PWD proposed the nation’s first large-scale green stormwater infrastructure program.

Without the robust support of Parks and Recreation, the Fairmount Park Conservancy and groups like the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Trust for Public Land, that might not be the case.

A photo posted by Philadelphia Water (@phillyh2o) on Aug 10, 2016 at 1:42pm PDT

Our first season of volunteer cleanups with local apparel company United By Blue was a huge success, and we’re excited to start another round this spring.

In 2016, nearly 1,000 volunteers joined PWD , United By Blue, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and other partners at 15 clean ups to remove nearly 33 tons of trash from waterfront green spaces like Bartram’s Garden and Penn Treaty Park.

In this post, Amanda Krakovitz, a recent Penn State grad now working with the Philadelphia Water Dept. through the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and SERVE Philadelphia program, talks about an event she helped plan to build community engagement around Green City, Clean Waters projects in South Philly.

VISTA Amanda Krakovitz helps provide information about the Green City, Clean Waters program and upcoming projects.

By: Amanda Krakovitz,
SERVE Philadelphia Water Ambassador

The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) and the Friends of Mifflin Square are teaming up this year on November 12 for Love Your Park Day, a city-wide volunteer effort dedicated to cleaning up our parks that’s organized by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy.

PWD and the Friends group are taking the lead on the clean-up of Weinberg Park, located at 6th and Jackson Streets, just a block from Mifflin Square. Volunteers will meet at noon and help pick up trash, paint benches with Mural Arts and learn about upcoming green infrastructure projects in the park. There will be a rain drop building activity for kids and drinks and snacks for everyone.

Free markers and installation kits will be available for pickup next Tuesday at the Water Works—just request a kit here!

Last year, Philadelphia Water crews cleaned over 100,000 storm drains in neighborhoods all over the city. While that number is impressive, we still need your help—and not just in the never-ending effort to keep storm drains clear of trash, leaves, snow and other debris.

We need help educating neighbors about how these easily overlooked pieces of infrastructure act as direct links to local watersheds. Not enough people know that what gets dumped on your street—be it litter, dog waste or used motor oil—also gets washed into your local waterways, and that can be bad news for water quality and the wildlife we're working hard to protect and restore.

To drive this neighborhood-to-nature connection home, we created new storm drain markers for each of Philly’s seven watersheds featuring seven different aquatic creatures native to local waterways. Read more about the markers here.

Interested in giving us a hand while adding a little color to your block, discovering your watershed’s aquatic creature and helping your community understand its role in the urban water cycle? Visit our storm drain marking page to locate your watershed and sign up for a free marking it.

In addition to being a cool thing to do for your neighborhood, storm drain marking can be a great educational volunteer activity for schools and community groups, and even works as a team-building project for your workplace!

To make getting your free kit easy, we will be offering a special pickup day at the Fairmount Water Works (600 Water Works Drive) on Tuesday, May 10 from 3-6 p.m.

We had nine groups mark drains for Philly Spring Cleanup in April, but with over 75,000 storm drains, we still have a long way to go! Order your kit here to get started!