By Jen Kinney
Next City
Paint on a green roof here. Add a rain garden there. Water-saving techniques have been around for years, but it can be tough to show how such building modifications can pay off for owners.
That’s why, last month, the Philadelphia Water Department released Credits Explorer, an app that invites users to add — virtually — green stormwater infrastructure to their properties. In addition to green roofs and rain gardens, users can experiment with permeable pavement, underground basins, and other tools made of plants, soil, and stone that absorb stormwater instead of letting it run off into the quickly overworked sewer system. Credits Explorer then calculates how much property owners will save on their monthly Stormwater Management Service charge, a utility fee applied to all non-residential properties in Philadelphia to recover the cost of stormwater management.
“We’re really hoping to see the Credits Explorer highlight what’s possible,” says Erin Williams, an engineer who manages the stormwater billing team at the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD). The app is part of the city’s 25-year, $2.5 billion Green City, Clean Waters plan to manage stormwater and protect watersheds. Philadelphia spends $110 million per year managing stormwater, all of which is paid for by the stormwater fee.
Using Credit Explorer to “add” green stormwater infrastructure to the building where Next City’s office is located in Philadelphia. The app is pretty addictive. Try it here.
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