As part of the welcome plenary sessions at the 2023 Annual Meeting, Marc Cammarata, a Deputy Commissioner at the Philadelphia Water Department, and Elaine Montes, a Program Manager in the Office of Sustainability, offered comments on Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters Program. You can find the slides here. Below are 3 takeaways:
- Green City, Clean Waters is Philadelphia’s 25-year plan to meet state and federal regulations related to stormwater and to make neighborhoods more sustainable through the implementation of GSI.
- Through implementation of the plan beginning in 2011, the City has installed more than 2,800 green tools, at nearly 800 sites, keeping 2.7 billion gallons of polluted water out of its rivers.
- The effort relies on heavy cooperation among City agencies and a focus on (1) Connecting with the people served; (2) Developing approaches and strategies to meet the unique needs of each community and place; (3) Building partnerships that support the collective work; (4) Implementing the necessary policies / programs to ensure equitable, just, and resilient decision-making.
