Making a splash in Manayunk

Philadelphia's ambitious $2.4 billion, 25-year storm-water management program hinges on innovative practices such as porous pavement, green roofs, and rain gardens to soak up the first flows of rainfall.

Anything to keep storm water from overwhelming the sewer system and overflowing into area rivers and streams, carrying road oil and litter and raw sewage with it.

But, in the final analysis, sometimes you have to bring on the tank.

On Tuesday, the city formally cut the ribbon on a $46 million project on Venice Island in Manayunk that includes a massive tank to hold the storm water and raw sewage that in an earlier time would have gushed into the Schuylkill during big storms.

At roughly the size of a football field, and 25 feet deep, it can hold four million gallons of water.

When a storm is over and the sewer lines clear, the water gets pumped back into the system and eventually winds up at the water treatment facility near Philadelphia International Airport.

Sewer overflows are problematic through much of the city, but the 42-inch main in Manayunk stood out. Just half a mile downstream is the Queen Lane drinking-water intake.

Overflows "only happened occasionally, but even occasionally is too much," said Howard Neukrug, the city's water commissioner.

The jubilation at Tuesday's event wasn't all about storm water. Indeed, hardly anyone went over to get an inside look at the big tank.

They were too busy admiring the new parking lot built atop it, the basketball courts next to that, and, the pearl of the project, a 250-seat performing arts center, built above the 100-year flood level.

All, oddly enough, courtesy of the Water Department.

Officials realized that the project, which had its beginnings 10 years ago, would eventually mean three years of construction and disruption in the heart of Manayunk.

How could the Water Department, in effect, pay the community back? What should go on top of the tank?

Input was sought. Meetings were held.

"This five acres of land, everybody wanted everything," said Kay Sykora, director of Destination Schuylkill River, a project of the Manayunk Development Corporation.

The project "became something the community really, really cared about," said Rina Cutler, the city's deputy mayor for Transportation and Utilities.

In the end, said Jane Lipton, executive director of the Manayunk Development Corporation, the project became a labor of community love.

Coincidentally, the parking lot on Venice Island - a strip of land between the canal and the Schuylkill - was crumbling. The rec center was rundown. Both disappeared under the bulldozers, along with a swimming pool that many felt was no longer needed. Now, kids can romp in the "spray park," play basketball, or attend a concert.

Michael DiBerardinis, deputy mayor for environmental and community resources, was delighted. After all, he didn't have to spend a dime for the new recreation facilities. "Who says government can't get it right?" he said, praising officials for being creative in joining "divergent ideas" such as storm water and youth activities.

Dana Dabek, who lives in Manayunk and works at its North Light Community Center, called the project "amazing" and said it would bring new people into the neighborhood and more business to the downtown.

And maybe, while people are parking their cars or attending events, they'll pause to notice a few other amenities.

The vast storm-water tank aside, the project still incorporates some of the hallmarks of the city's new storm-water strategy. Atop the pump house for the tank is a green roof. Outside the performing arts center are rain gardens and "tree trenches" that stall storm water so it can soak back into the ground.

"The problem is that we can never build the pipe big enough" to handle big storms, Neukrug said. Nor, presumably, the tank, even though this one was sized with the more severe storms that climate change is expected to bring in mind.

So the system also needs relief, "and that's what we do with rain gardens and other methods," he said.

"We're reducing demand and increasing capacity, and we're doing it as best as we can and as fast as we can, all over the city," Neukrug added.

"It's going to take a long time and a lot of money, but sewage going into our river is not acceptable."

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