MANAGING WET WEATHER WITH

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
PHILADELPHIA CASE STUDY

PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT

• An integrated utility:
– Drinking Water
– Wastewater
– Stormwater

• A new integrated approach:

– Land
– Waterways
– Infrastructure
– Community

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 1801 – Philadelphia is first in the
world to supply an entire city with
drinking water
1816 - Fairmount Waterworks
established
Unprotected, unfiltered water supply

“It has been said that the Atlantic sturgeon once

so crowded the Schuylkill River that one could
walk across their backs…”

Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s

Schuylkill River

Land Conservation for Sourcewater Protection

1850s: City purchases land

and establishes Fairmount
Park to protect water supply

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 From Land Conservation to
Conveyance & Treatment

Return to Watershed Planning

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And New Thinking About Land Management /
Urban Design

Combined Sewer
Overflow Long
Term Control Plan
Update

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Gray CSO Infrastructure Solutions Green

Achieving the Green Vision…

• Dry Weather Water Quality & Aesthetic Improvements
– Sewer Relining
– Trail Development
– Trash Removal
• Healthy Living Resources
– Stream Restoration
– Wetland Creation
• Green Infrastructure / Green Urbanism
– 50% ‘Green City’ in 20 years
– 10 Ambitious and Innovative Land-Based Programs –
Streets, Homes, Open Spaces, Schools, etc.
• Infrastructure Upgrades
– Expand Treatment Plant Capacity

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Philadelphia’s Green Approach
• Sustainable
• Support numerous EPA initiatives
•Green Policy
•Protecting America’s Waters
•Reducing Green House Gas Emissions
•Improving Air Quality
• Adaptable (Climate Change)
– Adaptive Management
• Immediate Benefits
• Return on Investment
– Triple Bottom Line Analysis
•Almost a 1:1 Cost/Benefit Ratio

PWD has created 10 Land-Based Programs

Green Streets Green Recreation, Parks & Open Spaces

Green Alleys Green Homes
Green Schoolyards Green Businesses & Commerce
Green Public Facilities Green Industry
Green Parking Green Institutions

And Enforces Strong Stormwater Regulations

and Billing Mechanisms

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STORMWATER REGULATIONS PARCEL BASED BILLING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

Impacts New & Re-development with earth disturbance exceeding 15,000 s.f.

Water Quality
+ Infiltrate first 1” of runoff from all Directly Connected Impervious Area
(DCIA) within limits of earth disturbance
Channel Protection
+ Infiltrate or slow release 1-year, 24-hour storm (2.6 inches)
+ Does not apply to projects within direct discharge areas
+ Exempt - 20% decrease in impervious cover
Flood Control
+ Peak Rate Control of post to pre-development conditions
+ Exempt - 20% decrease in impervious cover
Non-structural Site Design
+ Use existing site features

Stormwater Regulations Reduced The City’s

Runoff by 908 Million Gallons Per Year

• A volume equal to the

block of City Hall 370
feet Deep. (drawn to
scale)
• A 3% reduction in
citywide runoff
• Up to $425 Million in
infrastructure capital
costs saved
• Up to $80 Million in
additional future
operation and
maintenance costs
saved

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STORMWATER REGULATIONS PARCEL BASED BILLING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

+ Parcel-based billing based on:

• Gross Area (20%)
• Impervious Cover (80%)
+ From hidden costs to dedicated fees
+ Truer cost of service
+ Encourage BMP retrofits by offering credits for
on-site management
+ Offering free retrofit concept design services

Create Financial Incentives for Better Land Management

Top 500 parcels in the combined sewered

area make up 12.3% of total impervious area

Gross Area = 600,000 Existing Charge = $ 400

Imperv Area = 500,000 New Charge = $ 2,500

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 Rewarding Urban Redevelopment

Gross Area = 24,000 Existing Charge = $ 4,700

Imperv Area = 24,000 New Charge = $ 120

Concept Design & Cost Analysis

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STORMWATER REGULATIONS PARCEL BASED BILLING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
10 Land-Based Programs
+ Green Streets
+ Green Alleys, Walkways & Driveways
+ Green Schoolyards
+ Green Public Facilities
+ Green Parking
+ Green Recreation, Parks & Open Spaces
+ Green Homes
+ Green Businesses and Commerce
+ Green Industry
+ Green Institutions

STORMWATER REGULATIONS PARCEL BASED BILLING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

LAND BASED PROGRAM EXAMPLES

+ Green Schoolyards

+ Green Recreation, Parks & Open Spaces

+ Green Streets

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GREEN SCHOOLYARDS
Project Complete
+ Springside School
+ Penn Alexander
+ Wissahickon Charter School
Under Construction
+ Greenfield School
+ Independence Charter School
Future
+ Wakisha Charter School
+ Martin Luther King High School
+ Bodine High School

GREEN SCHOOLYARDS
Springside

BMPs:
Rain Gardens, Disconnected Rain Leaders, Environmental Art

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GREEN SCHOOLYARDS
Wissahickon Charter

BMPs:
Rain Gardens, Rain Barrels

GREEN SCHOOLYARDS
Penn Alexander

BMPs:
Subsurface Infiltration, Rain Garden, Pervious Asphalt

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GREEN RECREATION, PARKS, AND OPEN SPACES
Project Complete
+ Cliveden Park
+ Mill Creek Recreation Center
+ Allens Lane Arts Center
+ Clark Park Infiltration Project
+ Herron Playground
+ Liberty Lands
In Design
+ Blue Bell Inn Triangle Park
+ Clark Park – ‘A’ Park Redesign
+ Barry Playground
+ Dickinson Square

GREEN RECREATION, PARKS, AND OPEN SPACES

Mill Creek Playground

BMPs:
Pervious Asphalt

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GREEN RECREATION, PARKS, AND OPEN SPACES
Cliveden Park

BMPs:
Disconnected Inlets, Bioretention Gardens, Extended Detention

GREEN RECREATION, PARKS, AND OPEN SPACES

Liberty Lands

BMPs:
Disconnected Inlet, Bioretention Garden, Extended Detention, Cistern

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GREEN STREETS
Projects Complete Future
+ Waterview Rec. Center Tree Trench + Bureau of Laboratory
+ Baltimore Avenue Curb Extension Services
+ West Mill Creek Tree Trench + Queen Lane
+ 47th and Grays Ferry Traffic Island + Belmont Ave
+ Union Hill Tree Trench + Midvale Ave
Under Construction + Lancaster Ave – ReStore
+ Navy Yard Streets + South Street Headhouse
+ Columbus Square + Model Neighborhood Blocks
+ Passyunk Streetscaping

GREEN STREETS
Waterview Rec Center

BMPs:
Disconnected Inlets, Pervious Concrete, Subsurface Infiltration

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GREEN STREETS
West Mill Creek

BMPs:
Disconnected Inlets, Pervious Pavers, Subsurface Infiltration

GREEN STREETS
47th & Grays Ferry Triangle

BMPs:
Bioretention Gardens, Curb Openings & Trench Drains

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GREEN STREETS
Columbus Square

BMPs:
Sidewalk Rain Garden Planters

GREEN STREETS
Passyunk Streetscaping

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GREEN STREETS
PENNVEST Funding

• PWD was awarded $30 million low-interest loan from the

Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) for
construction of green infrastructure projects

• Green Streets are primary focus, utilizing a developing set of

standard details for green street elements

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 Green Infrastructure Return on Investment
General Overview of Methods and Key Assumptions

• External Costs and Benefits

– Costs not included in traditional engineering estimates

• General Methods for Quantifying and/or Valuing Outcomes

– Reliance on well-established federal and other models, methods, and data

• Time Path for Realizing Benefits

– Discounted sum of annual values over 40-year project period (2010-2049)

• Present Value Estimates

– Based on inflation rate of 4.875% applied over 40-year project time frame

• Additivity versus Double-Counting

– Only include 50% of property value benefits to avoid potential double-
counting

• Omissions, Biases, and Uncertainties

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 Recreation Benefits

• The 50% LID option includes stream restoration and riparian

buffer improvements. Therefore, the option is projected to
increase:
– Creekside (i.e., near stream) recreational activities (jogging, biking,
walking, picnicking, etc.)
– Recreational opportunities will also improve in areas apart from the
riparian lands due to increase in vegetated and treed lands
• Traditional infrastructure approaches do not result in improved
streamside or urban landscape conditions
• Recreation analysis based on use/acre and $ value data from
the 2008 report How Much Value Does the City of Philadelpha
Receive from its Parks and Recreation System?

Enhanced Aesthetics (reflected in residential property values)

• Several empirical studies show that property values are higher

when trees and other vegetation are present in urban
neighborhoods
– Published hedonic valuation literature coupled with neighborhood-
specific baseline property values

• Reduced value of enhanced residential property values by 50%

to avoid potential double counting with several other benefit
categories

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 Example of How Benefits are Linked

Tree planting

Air quality Cooling Aesthetics Water quality

Energy Reduced
savings heat stress

Health Energy cost Reduced GHG Enhanced

benefits savings emissions property values

Heat Stress-related Premature Fatalities Avoided

• Excessive heat events (EHEs) and heat stress-related fatalities

studied extensively in Philadelphia
– Direct experience in Philadelphia with 20+ and 100+ EHE-attributed
deaths in 1991 and 1993
• Published research links the extent of vegetated cover with the
incidence of premature fatalities
– The annual reduction in the number of fatalities in Philadelphia is
based on these research findings
• Standard EPA methods and values (i.e., value of statistical life)
were used to monetize reductions in premature fatalities
• Does not include the avoided medical costs and reduced suffering
of morbidity impacts

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 Top 5 Neighborhoods
19121 – Lower N.Philly
19129 – Germant’n/East Falls
19125 – Kensington
19134 – Richmond
19124 – Frankford

Water Quality and Aquatic Habitat

Enhancements and Values

• Traditional infrastructure options (e.g., plant expansions,

tunnels) are aimed at reducing the number of overflow
episodes but do little to directly improve the physical riparian
area environment or otherwise enhance living resources
• Developed regression model, based on existing studies, to
predict what households would be willing to pay for
improvements in water quality

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 Wetland Enhancement and Creation

• LID options includes creation or enhancement of 190 acres of

wetlands
• Monetized according to the range of services these wetlands
are expected to provide, drawing on relevant published
literature of wetland values.

Poverty Reduction Benefits of Local Green

Infrastructure Jobs

Both grey and green infrastructure generate jobs but the types of
jobs are different
– Grey infrastructure will bid workers already in the labor force
away from other construction
• This is mostly a relocation of jobs
– Green infrastructure generates more low and unskilled job
opportunities suitable for people not already in the workforce
• This engages the chronically unemployed
– Focusing hiring on unemployed labor that is likely
consuming other city resources in the form of social
services
– Hiring in neighborhoods where greening is occurring can
provide double benefits for community development

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 Energy Use and Related Changes in Carbon
and Other Emissions
• Green space helps lower ambient temperatures and, when
incorporated on and around buildings, helps shade and
insulate buildings from wide temperature swings, decreasing
the energy needed for heating and cooling
• Diverting stormwater from wastewater collection, conveyance,
and treatment systems reduces the amoutn of energy needed
to pump and treat the water, which in turn reduces emissions
of greenhouses gasses and other pollutants
• Reduced energy demands in buildings and increased carbon
sequestration by added vegetation also result in a lower carbon
footprint

Air Quality Pollutant Removal from Added Vegetation

• Trees and vegetation improve air quality by filtering some airborne

pollutants (particulate matter and ozone)
• Reduced energy consumption results in decreased emissions
(SO2 and NOx) from power generation facilities
• These air quality improvements can reduce the incidence and
severity of respiratory illness
• Air quality impacts based on US Forest Service model developed
for Philadelphia
• EPA’s BenMap model applied to convert changes in ambient
conditions in Philadelphia into projected health impacts

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 Construction- and Maintenance-related

Disruption Impacts

• Social costs of disruption can include traffic delays, limited access

to places of business, increased noise and pollution, and other
inconveniences
• Used standard methods and data for estimating traffic delays and
associated fuel use and time loss

Citywide Present Value Benefits: Cumulative through 2049

Benefit Categories 50% LID option 30’ tunnel option
(2009 million USD) (2009 million USD)
Increased recreational opportunities $ 524.5

Improved aesthetics/property value (50%) $ 574.7

Reduction in heat stress mortality $ 847.1

Water quality / aquatic habitate enhancement $ 336.4 $ 189.0

Wetland services $ 1.6

Social costs avoided by green collar jobs $ 124.9

Air quality improvements from trees $ 131.0

Energy savings / usage $ 26.6 $ (7,324.1)

Reduced (increased) damage from SO2 and NOx $ 43.8 $ (2,838.9)

emissions
Reduced (Increased) damage from CO2 emissions $ 11.1 $ (745.8)

Disruption costs from construction and maintenance $ (5.6) $ (10,524.5)

TOTAL $ 2,616.0 $ (21,244.3)

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THANK YOU

Glen J. Abrams, AICP

Watersheds Planning Manager
[email protected]
215-685-6039

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