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Green City, Clean Waters Implementing the Nation’s Most Comprehensive Green Stormwater Infrastructure Program

www.phillywatersheds.org

• First Combined Sewer Overflow Long-Term Control Plan in the country to primarily focus on green stormwater infrastructure

• Uses an environmental regulatory obligation as a means for long-term strategic investments in community and economic development

“[Philadelphia] has earned a place as a national and global leader on sustainable innovation and clean water protection.”

Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator

PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT

• An integrated utility: – Drinking Water (1.73 million customers in Philadelphia,

Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties)

– Wastewater (2.22 million customers in Philadelphia,

Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties)

– Stormwater (Philadelphia City/County only)

• A new integrated approach:

– Land

– Waterways

– Infrastructure

– Community

GREEN CITY, CLEAN WATERS:

OVERVIEW & IMPLEMENTATION

Marissa Barletta

TYPES OF SEWERS IN PHILADELPHIA

60% of Philadelphia 40% of Philadelphia

Downspout

Storm drain

Dry Weather

Outfall pipe to creek

Downspout

Storm drain

Dry Weather


Combined Sewer Separate Sewer

60% of Philadelphia 40% of Philadelphia

Downspout

Storm drain

Downspout

Storm drain


Combined Sewer Separate Sewer

Wet Weather Wet Weather


TYPES OF SEWERS IN PHILADELPHIA

NATIONAL CSO CONTROL POLICY OF 1994

• Expedite Compliance with the Clean Water Act

– Must attain WQS

• Use – Swimming, Aquatic Life, Ind. & Ag. supply

• Criteria – Numeric and Narrative

• Anti-degradation policy

• Control Discharges from CSOs

– NPDES Permitting Process

– Authorization to Discharge to Waterways

• Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 2000

LOCATION OF US CSO COMMUNITIES

821 CSO communities in 32 states

City of Philadelphia CSO Program Timeline

LTCPU Submitted to PA DEP

September, 2009

October 2016 First Evaluation and

Adaptation Plan Submitted

Original LTCP 1997

2008 CO & A signed

June 1, 2011 Consent Order and Agreement signed with State of

Pennsylvania

April 10, 2012 EPA Signing of

Partnership Agreement

City of Philadelphia Stormwater Regulations

enacted January 2006

July, 2010 Begin Phase In

Parcel Based Billing for Stormwater

CSO LONG TERM CONTROL PLAN OF 1997

• Policy Required CSS communities to develop and implement a Long Term Control Plan (LTCP)

• Implemented in 3 Phases

– Nine Minimum Controls (NMCs)

– Capital Program ~$200Million

– Watershed Based Planning Initiative

• To improve Water Quality

• Attain Water Quality Standards

INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• Water Quality issues

• Odors

• Low Dissolved Oxygen

• Bank Erosion

• Lack of Channel Habitat and Biological Diversity

• Wetland Degradation

• Poor Public Access to Streams

• Dumping and Trash

• Vandalism

WATERSHED-WIDE ISSUES

CHOOSING THE RIGHT INVESTMENT WITH LIMITED FUNDING

• PWD undertook a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) analysis of the environmental, social, and economic benefits of the program.

• Expands upon the traditional financial reporting framework

– Assess the impact of green stormwater infrastructure investment beyond water quality benefit

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE BENEFITS

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE BENEFITS Economic/Environmental/Social

Environmental Benefits

• Fishable, swimmable

• Habitat enhancement

• Air Quality

• Energy Savings

• Carbon Footprint

Social Benefits

• Recreation

• Aesthetics

• Public Health

• Equity

Economic Benefits

• Property Values • Job creation • City competitiveness

Time 25 years

AN UNCONVENTIONAL PATH Rationale for the Green Infrastructure Approach

CSO

cap

ture

1. Upgrading Water Pollution Control Plants

2. Lining Intercepting Sewers along two creek mainstems

3. Managing impervious cover from more than 1/3 of the CSO drainage with Green Stormwater Infrastructure

• greening our neighborhoods,

• restoring our waterfronts,

• improving our outdoor recreation spaces, and

• enhancing our quality of life.

City of Philadelphia’s Chosen CSO Program Alternative –

A Mix of Green and Traditional Infrastructure

2009 LTCPU Submittal 2011 CONSENT ORDER & AGREEMENT -

PADEP

Consent Order & Agreement – Pollutant Mass Capture Approach

– Stream/Wetland restoration removed

– $200M additional funds

– 25 yr program

– $1.2Billion (present value)

– more than 34% ‘Greening’

– Approximately 12 ‘Deliverables’

– Evaluation and Adaptation Plans every 5 years

June 1, 2011 June 1, 2036 25-year Program

$800 million

$200 million

Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Adaptive Management

Wet Weather Treatment Plant Upgrades

$200 million

GREEN CITY, CLEAN WATERS

Water Quality Based Effluent Limit (WQBEL)

Metric Units

Cumulative amount

as of Year 25

(2036)

NE / SW / SE WPCP

upgrade: Design &

Construction

Percent complete 100%

Miles of interceptor lined Miles 14.5

Overflow Reduction

Volume

Million Gallons per

year 7,960

Equivalent Mass Capture

TSS / BOD / Fecal

Coliform

Percent 85%

Total Greened Acres Greened Acres 9,564

WHAT IS A GREENED ACRE?

Greened Acre: An acre of impervious cover that is retrofitted to utilize green stormwater infrastructure to manage stormwater using source controls such as infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, decentralized storage and reuse.

GA = IC * Wd

• IC is the impervious cover utilizing green stormwater infrastructure (acres).

• Wd is the depth of water over the impervious surface that can be physically stored in the facility (inches); at least 1.0 inch of runoff, and up to 1.5 inches of runoff, unless otherwise deemed feasible by engineering design.

• One Greened Acre is equivalent to one inch of managed stormwater from one acre of drainage area or 27,158 gallons of managed stormwater.

HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO IT?

• PWD’s Green Stormwater Infrastructure Program Components:

– GSI that follows public works projects

– Privately funded GSI

– Publicly led GSI

PHILADELPHIA STORMWATER REGULATIONS

Impacts New Development & Redevelopment with earth disturbance exceeding 15,000 square feet:

• Water Quality; Channel Protection; Flood Control

• Meets the definition of a greened acre and manages the first inch of runoff

• Opportunity to leverage private development

Since enacting the 2006 regulations:

• PWD has approved 478 Stormwater Management Plans controlling over 1.5 billion gallons annually

• Shift from a meter-based charge for stormwater to a parcel-based stormwater charge

• Credit system available for managing stormwater

• Top 500 impacted parcels in the combined sewer area make up 12.3% of total impervious area

PARCEL-BASED STORMWATER BILLING: Financial Incentive for Better Stormwater Management

Existing Charge = $ 400

New Charge = $ 2,500

Gross Area = 600,000

Impervious Area = 500,000

Gross Area = 24,000

Impervious Area = 24,000

Existing Charge = $ 4,700

New Charge = $ 120

COA DELIVERABLES

Deliverable Name Deliverable Date

Implementation and Adaptive Management Plan December 1, 2011

Green Infrastructure Maintenance Manual Development Process Plan

June 1, 2012

Comprehensive Monitoring Plan December 1, 2012

Facility Concept Plan for NE WPCP June 1, 2013

Facility Concept Plan for SE WPCP June 1, 2013

Facility Concept Plan for SW WPCP June 1, 2013

Updated Nine Minimum Controls Report June 1, 2013

Tributary Water Quality Model – Bacteria June 1, 2013

Tributary Water Quality Model - Dissolved Oxygen June 1, 2014

Green Infrastructure Maintenance Manual - First Edition June 1, 2014

Tidal Waters Water Quality Model - Bacteria June 1, 2015

Tidal Waters Water Quality Model - Dissolved Oxygen June 1, 2015

Implementation and Adaptive Management Plan

A strategy for the first years of Implementation

Delivery: December 1, 2011

Metric: All

Adaptive Management

Capital Projects Planning

Policy and Streamlining

Operations and Maintenance

Program Monitoring

Public Outreach

Green Infrastructure Maintenance Manual

Delivery: June 1, 2014

Metric: Greened Acres

Defining maintenance activities, frequency and

efficiencies for long-term success of each type of

green stormwater infrastructure

Natural Environment Monitoring

Tidal

Tributary

Groundwater

Rainfall

Sewer System Monitoring

Sewer System Flows

CSO Discharge

Model Outputs

Green Infrastructure Performance

Soil and Vegetation Underground Infrastructure

Comprehensive Monitoring Plan

Delivery: December 1, 2012

Metric: Greened Acres

Monitoring, Modeling and Inspections

Increase wet weather treatment capacity to over

1.4 billion gallons

per day

Delivery: June 1, 2013

Metric: Overflow Reduction

Facility Concept Plans for Plant Expansion

50 MGD •Increase in secondary treatment capacity

60 MGD •Increase secondary treatment capacity

215 MGD •Increase wet weather capacity using secondary bypass

Tookany/Tacony-Frankford

Cobbs Creek Delaware River Schuylkill River

Water Quality Modeling Delivery: 2013-2015

Metric: Progress Evaluation Tool

Assess the program and evaluate alternative implementation options

Bacteria

Dissolved Oxygen

CONSEQUENCES OF MISSING TARGETS

• Stipulated Penalties for failure to achieve any numerical Performance Standard specified in Table 1 of the Water Quality Requirements section of the NPDES permits, the City shall pay civil penalties as follows:

i. Months 1 through 6 of each violation: $25,000 per month per violation

ii. Months 7 through 12 of each violation: $50,000 per month per violation

iii. Months 13 and beyond of each violation: $100,000 per month per violation

• Dissolution of EPA partnership and evolution to standard Consent Decree Process

• Enforce strong stormwater regulations on development

• Create stormwater billing structure that rewards good practices

• Ambitious and innovative Green Programs to invest in green stormwater infrastructure

9,500+ IMPERVIOUS ACRES CONVERTED TO “GREENED ACRES”

GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING:

Bill Cesanek, AICP

TOTAL GREENED ACRE METRIC

5-year target = 744 greened acres

25-year target = 9,564 greened acres

Metric Units Year 0 Year 5 Year 10 Year 15 Year 20 Year 25

Total Greened Acres

Greened Acres

0 744 2,148 3,812 6,424 9,564

GSI RAMP-UP

• PWD needs to achieve a pace of designing 260 Greened Acres (GAs) per year by FY16

• This is the “Proof of Concept” phase for PWD and the regulators

– Meet the WQBEL target AND build the program and confidence

– Build foundation for implementation in years 1-5

– Aggressiveness in the early stages will position us for the doubling of effort (1400 GA) in years 5-10

PROJECT OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS

• How are new GSI project identified?

– PWD staff

– Community Input http://www.phillywatersheds.org/whats_in_it_for_you/CI_Criteria

– Philadelphia City Departments

• Develop a Master Map

• How are projects characterized?

– Criteria

– Physical and Institutional Coordination

• How are projects prioritized?

http://www.phillywatersheds.org/whats_in_it_for_you/CI_Criteria

http://www.phillywatersheds.org/whats_in_it_for_you/CI_Criteria

• Public: invest in creating green stormwater infrastructure

• Private: apply strong stormwater regulations for development; new stormwater billing structure rewards LID practices

• Public Works: standardize green infrastructure for all city projects

9,564+ Impervious Acres Converted to “Greened Acres”

Private Lands

• Industrial/Commercial/Institutional

• Homes

• Parking

• Alleys, Driveways and Walkways

Public Lands

• Streets

• Schools

• Public Facilities

• Open Spaces Springside School “Water Wall” and Rain Garden

Saylor Grove Stormwater Wetland

Friends Center Green Roof

EIGHT GREEN PROGRAMS

GREENED ACRES ANNUAL GOALS

Target of Greened Acres Designed by Type of Project Project

Categories FY111 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16

Parking 5 10 15 20 30

Green Streets 15 25 30 40 50 60

Public Property 5 15 20 30 40

Water Sewer 5 20 30 40 50

School 5 10 15 20

Street Paving 10 25 60

Sub-total 15 40 80 125 180 260

SMED 50

Total 15 40 80 125 230 260

Cumulative 15 55 135 260 490 750

DEMONSTRATION PHASE: Initial focus on Green Streets and Open Space

Columbus Square Stormwater Planters Cliveden Park

Saylor Grove

• $30M PennVest loan

• 5 phases between 2009 and 2012

• 93 Sites - over 200 Blocks

• 6 Greened Acres are completed

• 44 GA designed awaiting construction

• 40 GA in design

• Construction costs typically range from $200k to >$1M

PennVest (SRF) Low

Interest Loan

New Initiatives - First Five Years

• PWD Facilities

• Green Campus Initiatives

• Green Schools and Schoolyards

• Greening of Publicly owned Parking Facilities

• Vacant Lands

• Green Homes

www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/find_a_project/by_category/landscape/shoemaker_green_images.php

• Revise and define City review process and policies

• Align Capital Programs – PWD and Streets

• Standardizes green stormwater infrastructure when:

– Water and sewer lines are replaced (approx. 20 miles/year) – Streets are re-surfaced (eventually 38 % of impervious cover)

Green Streets Design Process

After

GREEN SCHOOLS

Before

Before After

Greenfield Elementary Center City

Wissahickon Charter East Falls

GREEN PUBLIC OPEN SPACES

Cliveden Park East Mount Airy

Liberty Lands Park Northern Liberties

GREEN PUBLIC FACILITIES Herron Playground Pennsport

GREEN PUBLIC PARKING LOTS

Eadom Street Parking Lot

East Falls Parking Lot

Public Parking Lot Owner Potential Greened Acres

(# of sites)

Redevelopment Authority 13.1 acres (19 sites)

City of Philadelphia 12.2 acres (20 sites)

Beach St. Corp. 11.5 acres (1 site)

Conrail 8.2 acres (2 sites)

Kaplan at Tacony 1.7 acres (1 site)

Concept Tools Project Identification and Analysis

Design and Construction

Opportunities

• Maximizing Green Acres in clustered areas 50+ GA at a time

• Alternatives analysis for integrated implementation

• Potential leveraging of limited funding

• Innovative collaboration

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT ENHANCEMENT DISTRICTS

American Street Corridor

Win-Win-Win (Community, Businesses, PWD)

• Centralized stormwater management

• Removes unnecessary pavement

• Collaborative Design

• Up to 46 new greened acres

• Corridor Revitalization

• Build-out could double employment opportunities

GREEN HOMES

• Residential properties make up 20% of the impervious areas in the City

– Great opportunity for stormwater management

• Approximately 80% of PWD’s customers are residential

– Offer PWD customers the tools to contribute to greening

• Pilot: Determine level of interest -> inform city-wide program, if successful

PWD selected green tools that can be easily

installed; tools for every type of land-use

• Yard Tree

• Rain garden

• Downspout planter

• Porous pavers

• De-paving

RESIDENTIAL GREEN TOOLS

PILOT NEIGHBORHOODS

Key Determining Factors for Pilot Selection

• Strong Civic Capacity/Strong Partners

o Help us solicit participants and obtain feedback throughout the process

• Diverse housing/land-use typologies

o Larger yards, smaller yards, no yards

• Strong Interest/Strong Civics

o Where people care about their blocks – higher chance of getting feedback and commitment

CITYWIDE PLANNING INITIATIVES

GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY & COORDINATION:

Glen Abrams, AICP

REORGANIZATION OF PWD OFFICE OF WATERSHEDS

Realigning the organizational structure to transition from demonstration phase to a full implementation phase

Office of Watersheds

Environmental Restoration and

Monitoring Program

Planning and Regulatory

Compliance Program

Strategic Policy and Coordination Program

Policy Initiatives

Interagency Coordination

Watershed Information

Funding Support

GSI Planning

Design Coordination

Compliance Assurance

LTCPU Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling

GSI Maintenance

GSI Monitoring

Ecological Restoration

Environmental Monitoring &

Research

Watershed Field Operations

Water Quality Compliance Modeling

STRATEGIC POLICY & COORDINATION PROGRAM

New working group dedicated to streamlining policy and interagency coordination needs

• Identify and evaluate policy barriers to implementation of Green City, Clean Waters

• Track local, state and federal policy developments that may affect Green City, Clean Waters goals

• Initiate strategies to address policy challenges

• Centralize coordination with other City and Non-City agencies to achieve policy goals and realize implementation opportunities

PLANNING & REGULATORY COMPLIANCE PROGRAM

Ensure regulatory compliance with stormwater and CSO regulations

• Project planning, design, and implementation

• Pilot green stormwater infrastructure projects across the full spectrum of opportunities (e.g. schools, parks, streets), site conditions (e.g. steep slopes, various soil conditions), and ownership patterns during the first five years of the program

• Develop design guidelines, standards and specifications

• Manage monitoring and inspection of green stormwater infrastructure

Many of the priority policy and coordination needs will be identified by the GSI planning group responsible for building the queue of projects for implementation

Planning and Regulatory Compliance Program

Strategic Policy and Coordination Program

Policy Initiatives

Interagency Coordination

GSI Planning

INTERAGENCY COORDINATION

Targeted organizations generally belong to one of two categories:

1. Organizations that have resources that can directly support Green City, Clean Waters implementation

o Land to implement greened acres o Funding to leverage PWD’s investments o Initiatives that are complementary to GCCW

2. Organizations that can influence the direction and reach of Green City, Clean Waters

o Make critical policy decisions o Influence key policy-makers o Facilitate or present challenges to green infrastructure

implementation

INTERAGENCY COORDINATION

• Arrive at agreed-upon Standard Details

• Clarify and Streamline the Review Process (i.e. Who, What, When)

• Develop inter-departmental Maintenance / Ownership / Liability understanding

• Establish sustainable Maintenance Plan

• Continue Community Outreach & Education

• Establish comprehensive Monitoring Plan

POLICY & COORDINATION ISSUES: Green Streets

• Collaboration between: – Mayor’s Office of Transportation &

Utilities – Philadelphia Water Dept – Streets Dept

• Provide standard details for green stormwater infrastructure design

• Revise and define City review process and policies and align capital planning

GREEN STREETS DESIGN MANUAL

• Refine the PWD construction inspection protocol for public and private GSI projects o Clear expectations for construction work o Prescribed information for As-Built documentation

• Allow for flexibility in maintenance procedures to accommodate new and innovative pilot GSI designs

• Develop legal tools and agreements to clarify and confirm maintenance responsibilities with relevant agencies and private property owners

POLICY & COORDINATION ISSUES: Maintenance & Inspections

• Twelve sites across various City departments

• Green stormwater management practices resulting from compliance with stormwater regulations

• Allocate stormwater billing credits from each site to a maintenance contract

PILOT MAINTENANCE PROGRAM: Dept. of Public Property

POLICY & COORDINATION ISSUES: Stormwater Regulations, Billing & Credits

• Evaluate potential benefit of modifying PWD’s stormwater regulations to increase minimum management volume to 1.5 inches and/or reduce trigger threshold to 5,000 SF

• Evaluate stormwater billing credit system to ensure equity and confirm expected results

o Stormwater Assistance Phase-In Program

• Evaluate policies for off-site alternatives to meet stormwater regulations and/or achieve billing credits

o Stormwater Banking & Trading Concept

• Address potential Legal Obstacles regarding investing capital funding on private property

o Tax-Exempt Bond Requirements; Benefits to Individual Customers; Liability

• Explore opportunities to create Public-Private Partnerships to leverage resources and reduce costs

o Loans, Grants, Creative Financing Options

• Establish interdepartmental/interagency Memoranda of Understanding to access land for GSI projects and clarify liability and maintenance requirements

POLICY & COORDINATION ISSUES: PWD Capital Investments on Private Property

ADDRESSING PERCEIVED LEGAL OBSTACLES

Engaged Legal Counsel to clarify use of Tax-Exempt Municipal Revenue Bonds to Finance GSI on private property Program must meet all requirements of State and Federal Law

1. PWD must maintain an ownership interest in the stormwater infrastructure on private land o Ensure continued existence and operation and maintenance o Easements and/or Deed Restrictions

2. Stormwater infrastructure on private land must be determined to be most cost effective way to meet obligations

3. Grant Program must be determined to further an overarching government purpose o Stormwater runoff mitigation o Compliance with CO&A o Environmental improvement

4. Any private benefits must be incidental to public good

ADDRESSING PERCEIVED LEGAL OBSTACLES

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: PLANNING RESOURCES

• Free Stormwater Retrofit Conceptual Design and Cost Analysis

• BID Planning Grants: Feasibility studies for collective systems

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: FINANCIAL RESOURCES

• Loans: Low-interest (1.00%)

loans between $75,000 and $1,000,000

• Grants: $5M budgeted for

FY12; First round closed March 31 with 47 applicants requesting total of $23M

• Creative Private Financing: Working with

NRDC to explore options to involve private financial market, modeled on ESCO system

MOUs: PARKS & RECREATION, SCHOOL DISTRICT, TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND

202,000 Philadelphia residents do not have a public green space within 1/2 mile (10-minute walk) of their home

Opportunity Sites

• 183 acres of PPR land that is either 90% impervious and underused

• 1,365 acres of schoolyards, many of which are largely paved

• 1,043 acres of publicly owned vacant land

GREEN2015: COLLABORATION WITH PARKS & RECREATION AND SCHOOL DISTRICT

• PWD has been working closely with PPR to design stormwater infrastructure at park and recreation sites

• Projects manage public stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces (e.g. basketball courts, playgrounds, etc) and right-of-way runoff from streets and sidewalks

INTEGRATING GSI INTO PARKS & RECREATION SPACE

• PWD actively approaches PPR with new project ideas

• PPR created a Stormwater Review Team to meet work with PWD on developing stormwater concepts

• PPR and PWD are working on

a manual of details for selected stormwater practices on park sites


PWD is partnering with PPR to add additional funds to planned capital improvement projects to manage additional runoff

o other areas of the park o adjacent right-of-way.

Project area of disturbance at Monkiewicz Recreation Center


• Combines resources and reduces costs

• Creates a unified design that provides maximum benefit to the community

• Consolidates construction time

1. Tree trench, rain garden, subsurface stone bed 2. Vegetated swale 3. Tree swale 4. Tree swale

PWD’s suggested project locations



Case Study: Partnering to Transform Vacant Land into Park

• New City park where stormwater management leads the design

• Park will capture and manage runoff from several nearby streets

• PWD and PPR are working closely with Community Ventures, who will develop the western side of the parcel

• PWD will own and maintain stormwater infrastructure; PPR will own and maintain park infrastructure

Total Drainage Area: 99,200 SF (2.3 Acres)

Existing Site

Proposed Drainage Areas

Concept Plan

CONCLUSIONS • Strong Leadership, coupled with a clear Vision, is critical

to change o Local, State & Federal

• Passion and Patience are necessary when embarking on a program that diverges from traditional paths

• Collaboration is a must: o Planners, Landscape Architects, Engineers, Business Owners,

Developers, Community Representatives, Local Institutions, City & State Agencies

• Important to have Multiple Pathways to success and Remain Flexible

• In order to ensure long-term success, the program must be Fully Integrated into day-to-day processes and activities

Photo Credit: Philadelphia Water Department

Photo Credit: Paul Rider for Philadelphia Water Department

Photo Credit: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Photo Credit: Barry Lewis and Tiffany Ledesma Groll for Philadelphia Water Department

Glen J. Abrams, AICP Marissa Barletta Bill Cesanek, AICP

THANK YOU

http://www.phillywatersheds.org

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