Philadelphians Provided With primer on paths to clean water

Philadelphia will hold mayoral elections in 2023, with the primary occurring on Tuesday, May 16. In preparation for that election, the Littoral Society and the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, along with and nine other organizations, have provided an educational primer on paths to clean water for all Philadelphians, outlining specific actions to make the city's waterways cleaner and more accessible to residents.
 
Philadelphia is blessed with some of Pennsylvania's most beloved waterways like the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers. Sadly, discharges of raw sewage from antiquated combined sewer systems are a significant source of pollution for these great rivers and the communities through which they wind. Not only do the raw sewage discharges reduce the quality of life for all of the city's residents, they disproportionately impact communities of color, perpetuating environmental injustice for residents of disadvantaged communities.
 
The Green City, Clean Waters program has begun to reduce the volume of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) by retaining stormwater using green infrastructure, but more needs to be done. We believe the following items would help remedy these concerns, advance the goal of the Clean Water Act to end all pollution from entering our rivers, and provide significant employment opportunities.

• Ensure that the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) accelerates action to reduce untreated sewage discharges from outflow pipes (CSOs) going into the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers from priority sources of sewage identified by clean water and recreation leaders. Many of these sites are located in environmental justice and economically disadvantaged communities across Philadelphia. Addressing this sewage pollution will create jobs and improve community life, public health, and water quality. More rapid deployment of green infrastructure projects to reduce peak stormwater runoff is an essential part of this strategy.
• Direct PWD and applicable city departments to immediately address and halt all illegal "dry weather" raw sewage discharges into Philadelphia's rivers and streams. These are illegal discharges under the federal Clean Water Act and leave the city vulnerable to costly pollution penalties. Ending these illegal discharges will drive immediate improvements in public health and water quality for Philadelphia’s rivers.
• Work with regional officials to reduce the amount of storm and sanitary flows that originate outside the city limits and contribute to CSOs within the city.
• Direct PWD to immediately place netting systems on its larger CSOs to capture the immense amount of litter and trash, including sewage solids, that flows from our sewers into our beloved rivers and streams. This practice is used by water departments across the nation and would prevent hundreds of tons of litter and trash from entering Philadelphia’s rivers each year.
• Remove the citywide ban on recreational activities where people might come into contact with water from our rivers and streams to allow people to enjoy cool waters as days get hotter and replace with guidance about when and where it is safe to swim. This ban may become an excuse by city officials to allow higher levels of pollution into the city's waterways. All across the nation, great cities are reclaiming their rivers for recreation and the benefit of their communities. Philadelphia is being left behind due to restrictive pollution reduction and access policies.
• Direct Philadelphia's Department of Parks & Recreation to identify and develop five new recreational water access points along Philadelphia's river and stream fronts for swimming and boating during the next four years.
• Ensure that PWD and the Department of Parks and Recreation work aggressively to secure for Philadelphia our fair share of the historic levels of clean water funding available through sources like the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to fund the actions noted above.

Organizations involved in this effort include: PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, the American Littoral Society, The Black Church Center for Justice & Equality, Clean Water Action, Clean Air Council, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, Glen Foerd, the LandHealth Institute, the Sierra Club Pennsylvania, Upstream Alliance, and UrbanPromise.​

To explore these recommendations, contact Tim Dillingham at tim@littoralsociety.org.