Green City, Clean Waters

Producer: Maria Erades

When it rains in the City of Brotherly Love, the city's aging sewer system can be overwhelmed—causing sewage and runoff to back up into basements or gush untreated into our rivers through overflow pipes. Instead of going the route of many other cities and building miles-long, multibillion-dollar tunnels to store this storm-water overflow--and then pumping it back into the system when the rain stops--Philadelphia's long range vision offers a more holistic approach. Green City, Clean Waters looks at how green stormwater management is transforming the city into an oasis of rain gardens, living roofs, treescapes, and porous pavements—all of which, say advocates, is cheaper than tunnels and makes for a more liveable, prettier city with higher property values and better community health.

GreenTreks is an award-winning Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to inspiring individuals to take action towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Through television, the web, and innovative outreach efforts, GreenTreks shares the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to improve their communities—and challenges others to become personally involved.