To reduce water impairments caused by stormwater runoff, the EPA developed the Clean Water Act: Stormwater Strategy Summary of 2008 – 2010.

To comply with these regulations, the Philadelphia Water Department has drafted Green City, Clean Waters. It’s a 25-year plan with a goal aimed at reducing the amount of pollutants in our combined sewer system caused by combined sewer overflows by 85%, and to capture the first one-inch of stormwater runoff. Combined water systems are sewers designed to collect rainwater runoff, sewage and industrial water in the same pipe. Sixty percent of Philly’s 3,000 miles of sewers are constructed in this manner.

“Dilution was the solution,” said PWD spokesperson Joanne Dahme about meeting the standards presented in said act.

The program will be implemented through various types of projects across the city. The projects are engineered to capture rainwater, at residents’ homes perhaps via…