Thanks to alot of hard work by parents, students, neighborhood volunteers, and a wide range of community partners, the Albert M. Greenfield Elementary School has transformed its asphalt schoolyard into a vibrant green space. The multi-purpose school ground controls stormwater runoff, acts as living classroom, and provides green recreation space for local resident's use.
This model of environmental stewardship features an indigenous woodland forest garden, porous pavement, permeable recycled play surface, an agriculture zone, and trees that provide migratory bird and butterfly habitat as well as much needed shade. Along with its community improvement and learning enrichment goals, the "Greening Greenfield" effort is intended to develop a model that can be replicated in other Philadelphia public schools.
As part of a city-wide effort to manage its combined sewer overflow problems in a more natural way, the Philadelphia Water Department's Green Streets Program is using a combination of vegetation and engineering to manage stormwater runoff where it falls. In the first South Philly neighborhood to receive "stormwater planters", PWD learned that involving locals is THE key to a project's success. What started out as an exercise in innovative stormwater management at Columbus Square Park proved to be a community-builder that involved volunteer gardeners, supportive and skeptical residents, and the school children that will tend to the plants.
At first glance, the area surrounding the Waterview Recreation Center in Philadelphia's Germantown section seems ordinary enough--but in reality, it's comprised of a number of "green infrastructure" techniques that keep water out of the storm drains. During heavy rainfalls, when the city's combined sewer system can be easily overwhelmed, porous sidewalks, tree trenches, and a flowthrough planter manage the water as it falls. That helps protect local rivers and streams.
When the East Falls Development Corporation began planning a parking area adjacent to the Schuylkill River, locals wanted it done an environmentally sensitive way. Rather than directing runoff into storm drains and sewage pipes, the lot was designed so that rain water would flow into a natural garden area to be held and cleaned before being slowly released into the River. Besides managing runoff, it's added value to the neighborhood and proved to be a whole new way to connect the environment to people's behaviors at home.
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