As a partner with the Philadelphia Water Department, SOSNA has helped register our neighborhood in PWD's Model Neighborhood's program.  Doing this puts us on a short list of Philadelphia neighborhoods who are interested in having innovative stormwater management techniques employed on our streetscapes - like rainwater swales, and tree pits that catch and filter rainwater from the street.

PWD is rightly very worried about the burden placed on the city's combined sewer system (a singular pipe that combines sewage and stormwater runoff that funnels it to a treatment plant).  During large rain events, the CSO system backs up, sending sewage into our streams and rivers, and even into our basements.  The PWD is working to retain as much rainwater as possible on the ground or until the rain event passes, using bioretention cells and rain barrels.

For the individual homeowner, you can take many steps to not only help the CSO system, but decrease your own water and energy bills significantly.  These steps can be as cheap and easy as buying and installing a rain barrel, or as intensive and expensive as building a green roof on your row house.  At our RAIN BARREL STORIES page, learn about how other neighbors fared when installing a rain barrel at their homes/apartments, and why they did so.

Information about these techniques and more is available at the Water Department's Office of Watersheds website, or by stopping by the SOSNA Office and picking up PWD's "Homeowner's Guide to Stormwater Management" which outlines a host of techniques you can employ.

A PDF version of the guide is available on this page below.