GREEN CITY, CLEAN WATERS: “The opportunities ahead will be limited only by the confines of our imaginations and the extent of our determination,” says Howard Neukrug, Water Commissioner, City of Philadelphia
Note to Reader:
The City of Philadelphia’s Water Commissioner, Howard Neukrug, is featured on the cover of the December 2013 edition of Grid Magazine as one of several superheroes of sustainability in Philadelphia. Check out the full article in Grid
Commissioner Neukrug started off in drinking water treatment at the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) in 1978 and began the PWD’s Office of Watersheds in 1999. As director of the Office of Watersheds, Commissioner Neukrug led the department in creating the vision and the plan for Green City, Clean Waters, Philadelphia’s long term plan to clean up the city’s waterways.
Appointed Water Commissioner in 2011 by Mayor Michael Nutter, Howard Neukrug is focused on making PWD a sustainable 21st Century urban water utility – one that fully meets the complex responsibilities and opportunities of our time and our environment.
Green City, Clean Waters – Philadelphia’s bold plan for rainwater management re-imagines the urban landscape
After expanding its analysis of potential ways to reduce CSOs (Combined Sewer Overflows), the City of Philadelphia chose a Green Stormwater Infrastructure approach over more traditional engineered solutions and is addressing the total water balance, where all components of water supply, stormwater and wastewater are managed in a closed loop.
Commencing in 2010, the City of Philadelphia has been implementing a US$1.2 billion plan, branded as Green City, Clean Waters, to transform the city over a 25-year period.
Philadelphia is ‘peeling back’ concrete and asphalt surfaces and replacing them with rain gardens, green roofs, landscaped swales in parking lots, heavily planted boulevards, and small wetlands. Over time, it is envisioned that the plan will turn the city into a giant sponge to absorb as much rainwater as possible and delay the rest in its journey to the nearby Delaware and Schuykill rivers.
Rainwater is a Resource
The lead agency for implementation of Green City, Clean Waters is the Philadelphia Water Department. The champion is Howard Neukrug. “We value water and we’re changing the traditional way stormwater is managed between homes, businesses and the environment. We are taking that (old, grey infrastructure) barrier down, and are stopping the water from ever hitting the system,” stated Howard Neukrug when Green City, Clean Waters was launched in 2010.
“As we evolve Philadelphia into America’s most sustainable and green city, the opportunities ahead will be limited only by the confines of our imaginations and the extent of our determination.”
Design with Nature
“We want to do anything we can do to return us as close as possible to the way nature intended the water cycle to be,” continued Howard Neukrug. “But we need to do that within the context of a city that is fully grown, with incredible impervious cover everywhere.”
“We recognize that if we manage stormwater where it lands, whether on the ground or on a roof, that in very many circumstances we can not only prevent that gallon of water from overflowing, but we may be able to find additional benefits for our customers.”
Leading by Example
“We’re becoming a land-management utility,” stated Howard Neukrug when he recently commented on the role played by the Philadelphia Water Department. “But only for a short time. The purpose is to get out of this business. Because we want city planning to be strong, and for them to do the planning.”
“We want regulations, incentives, policies in place so that it’s not the water department that is designing the street or designing the building or the rain garden. That needs to be done by public or private entities.”
“And so we’re leading the way, we’re demonstrating, we’re innovating, putting things in place. But then we’re stepping back and letting others take over…. We just need to lead the way and recognize that rainwater is a resource, it’s not a waste product,” concluded Howard Neukrug.
To Learn More:
Philadelphia has produced a video that explains how this green vision will be accomplished over time. To view it, click on on the image below or click https://vimeo.com/10756931.
To download a presentation by Howard Neukrug that laid out the vision in 2010, click on Clean Water….Green City: Blending the interests of land and water in Philadelphia.
To view Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter’s “Charting New Waters” speech in 2010, click on https://vimeo.com/15194548