Water Center in the News
Water Center and WaterNow Alliance Establish Strategic Partnership!
The Water Center at Penn and WaterNow Alliance are aiming to further our shared goal of advancing on-the-ground research and policies at the community level to address the most pressing water related issues at both the national and global scale. By strategically aligning our missions and project focus, we will be able to increase the area of influence both geographically and through the expansion of staff technical and policy expertise.
We’re looking forward to working together in a more intentional way to more effectively address the nation’s most pressing water issues.
Read the Full Press Release Here
The Main Problem
From lead pipes to stormwater overflows, providing safe, clean water to the Pittsburgh region has been a challenge for years, and climate change has made conditions more difficult. However, government officials and advocacy groups are pushing for changes they hope will make a difference. The Water Center’s executive director Howard Neukrug talks about the Center’s efforts in the South Western Pennyslvania area and says politics of the past should no longer be allowed to impede the region’s social, economic or environmental futures.
Read the Full Article Here
Created by the Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the WaterNow Alliance, Navigate the Flood offers a curated set of resources for city and utility staff dealing with flood and storm water challenges. For those who don’t know where to start, the guide walks users through five process-oriented steps, each with easy-to-understand explanations. And the guide’s searchable library includes 97 technical and financial resources—including a list of national, state and regional technical assistance providers.
Read the Full Article Here
Things Remembered
Mueser, who received research funding from the Water Center, relies on archival records and interviews to learn about the experience of living in and near the villages destroyed to build the reservoirs. The COVID pandemic has been a setback for her work, as many of the archives are still closed and people are only recently comfortable meeting for an interview. When she does get to meet with people, mostly farmers and their families, face-to-face, she says it’s a fantastic experience.
Read the Full Article Here
Rethinking resilience in the face of climate change
“We had up to eight inches of rainfall that happened with great speed and intensity,” says Howard Neukrug, executive director of The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “The Schuylkill had nowhere to put the water. The Delaware River was also stressed because of the rain, the tides, and sea-level rise, so that water ran off to the only place it could go.”
That is, the Vine Street Expressway, a low-lying part of Interstate 676 originally built to link Interstates 95 and 76. It directly abuts the Schuylkill River.
Though Philly had previously never seen this level of flooding, its occurrence didn’t surprise Neukrug, who is the former commissioner and CEO of Philadelphia Water. “Rainwater is supposed to go into our rivers and streams. That’s nature’s way and that’s how we’ve designed systems in cities,” he says. “But bigger storms and higher sea levels, plus more impervious cover and more people are resulting in something bigger in magnitude than we’ve ever seen before.”
Read the Full Article Here
Financing Your Water System: How Cities are Cracking the Mold
We were honored to work with Lancaster and Buffalo Utility leaders at the Spring 2021 Water Affordability Academy and have been providing ongoing technical assistance since then. Months later these cities have tackled one of the most daunting challenges that utilities face: funding. Read on for their most important learning lessons that can help your city’s/utility’s program.
Water service providers across the nation are tasked with delivering clean, potable drinking water to their customers. Although undoubtedly a human right, this service comes at a cost.
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Storm’s damage might boost support for more aggressive climate policy, experts hope
Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that the state has spent $1.5 billion on stormwater infrastructure improvements over the last three years, and another $1 billion is coming over the next year. He said it was “no surprise” that major storms like Ida are happening more often, noting that they have long been predicted by climate scientists.
But changes such as stormwater improvements are likely to be only part of the response to climate change, said Howard Neukrug, chairman of the new Advisory Committee on Climate Change at the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Read the Full Article Here
Partnering in Glass City: How Toledo is Protecting its Most Vulnerable Residents
Cities across the country are struggling to maintain and update infrastructure while keeping water affordable, particularly for their most vulnerable households. Thanks in part to our Water Affordability program—co-organized by The Water Center at Penn—utilities are leading the way and offering a critical template that others can replicate.
We were honored to work with Toledo’s utility leaders at the Fall Water Affordability Academy and have since been providing ongoing technical assistance. A year later, Toledo is poised to announce a series of sweeping new water affordability initiatives.
Read the Full Article Here
Surfside collapse shows solid construction and climate resiliency are interdependent | Opinion
The tragic Surfside condo collapse is a stark reminder of the fragility of our seaside communities and the urgent need for a stronger and safer built environment. My hometown of Miami Beach is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable places. Our community must confront this reality by investing in resilience — our ability to withstand physical hazard events, maintain functionality and adapt to growing risks.
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A personal look at safe water access and gender equity in India
As an Indian American growing up halfway around the world from where my parents call home, I find myself constantly searching for ways to stay connected with my heritage. When I was little, that meant learning to make chai and spending six hours in Bharatanatyam rehearsals every Sunday morning. But as I’ve grown up and begun cultivating my interests in gender equity and public health as a student at the University of Pennsylvania, staying connected to my roots looks a little different.
This summer, through the Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, I’m interning for Safe Water Network, a nonprofit working to promote access to safe water in India and Ghana. As an intern, I’m working on understanding water access in India through the lens of gender equity–a role that feels like a perfect combination of my heritage and my passions.
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Toward effective river basin management (RBM): The politics of cooperation, sustainability, and collaboration in the Delaware River basin
Highlights
-The Delaware River basin in the northeastern United States is the site of one of the longest-running and most successful experiments in River Basin Management (RBM).
-The Delaware basin is managed by a unique federal-state compact organization that has successfully prevented and resolved water conflicts, improved water quality, and engaged a diverse set of water users.
-Competition and mistrust between state and federal government were driving forces behind RBM in the Delaware.
Read the Full Article Here
7/26/2021
Intense rainfall driven by climate change, impervious surfaces like concrete and asphalt, and aging water infrastructure are part of the formula causing communities across the country to face increased flooding and stormwater runoff. Many municipalities need assistance with planning, management, and funding. Navigate the Flood is a new step-by-step guide and list of technical and financial resources to help tackle flooding and stormwater challenges, as discussed in this episode with Erica Depalma, Research Program Coordinator at the Water Center at Penn, and Caroline Koch, Water Policy Director at the WaterNow Alliance. Erica and Caroline explain that the guide is useful for officials and staff in local government, it outlines five steps to increase resilience, and has helpful examples from communities such as New Orleans; Sheboygan, Wis.; San Mateo, Calif.; and Camden, N.J.
Read the Full Article Here
6/2/2021
For decision makers in need of guidance or funding support, check out the new Navigate the Flood guide, a joint initiative of the Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the WaterNow Alliance. Navigate the Flood offers a step-by-step, curated list of technical and financial resources to support city and utility staff as they tackle local flood and stormwater challenges – including those resulting from separate and combined sewer systems or climate-induced flooding.
Read the Full Article Here
Inaugural Projects for Progress recipients announced
5/18/2021
Through major renovations, updated instrumentation, and additional environmental justice-focused STEM programming, this initiative will enhance the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center and its K–16+ collaborative learning opportunities. The team has engaged with key stakeholders in the West Philadelphia community to identify and prioritize their needs and goals.
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Biden’s climate report card: 4 A’s, 2 B’s, 3 Incompletes
5/21/2021
It is time to give an early take on the Biden administration’s climate diplomacy. Now that we have gotten past the first few months of a Biden presidency, what has his administration’s concerted efforts accomplished? What priorities remain outstanding, and what are in need of further attention as we look toward the upcoming Glasgow Climate Change Conference this November?
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The Water Center at Penn Newsletter – Water Exchange
5/12/2021
Thanks to all of our authors for contributing such interesting and varied articles to the Water Exchange Newsletter. The breadth of subject matter in this edition really shows how fascinating water is in terms of its unlimited research potential, wide array of related professional opportunities and essential role in creating a sustainable future for all.
The authors in this issue show that while our collective water future will be challenging, with new thinking about water risk, new approaches to water technology and water management, and encouraging the next generation to contribute their ideas and energy to solving these challenges, we can indeed have a secure water future.
Read the Full Article Here
Water Everywhere, For Everyone
4/19/2021
When former Philadelphia Water Department Commissioner Howard Neukrug CE’78 launched the Water Center in 2018, he spoke with “a lot of different people [and] ended up with the concept of water as the universal connector,” he says. “It touches upon everything from climate change to failing infrastructure.” Thanks to those hot-button issues, Neukrug says, awareness has grown about the importance of ensuring universal access to clean and safe water. “So, even though the problems continue to grow, I no longer have to explain what a watershed is,” he adds. (It’s the origin point of a water system, the spot that channels rainfall and snowmelt through waterways and eventually into reservoirs.)
Read the Full Article Here
PWSA Awards Contract to Establish Stormwater Master Plan
4/07/2021
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority announces its contract with the Water Center at Penn and PennPraxis to develop a comprehensive stormwater master plan for Pittsburgh. Both firms, co-leading the development of the master plan, bring a visionary project team to develop a global model using the p4 framework of People, Planet, Place, and Performance to provide an innovative, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable blueprint to address one of our region’s most challenging problems.
Read the Full Press Release Here
From Philadelphia CEO to Founder of UPenn Water Center, Creating The Future of Urban Water Systems with Howard Neukrug
21st Century Podcast 4/1/2021
Aquasight CEO Mahesh Lunani is joined by Howard Neukrug, former CEO of Philadelphia water, currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and chair of the Leading Utilities of the World CEO network. Howard wears many hats, but his principal job is head of the Water Center at UPenn. We will have an interesting dialogue both from a point of view of a practitioner and a teacher. Howard walks us through his journey from a young engineer to CEO of Philadelphia Water, and then to the University of Pennsylvania, both as a professor and as head of the Water Center at UPenn. You’ll hear his passion for urban water systems, including teaching the next generation of water leaders. Howard also discusses the impact COVID-19 has had on the water industry, water’s challenges going forward, and why you need to be an expert, but not necessarily in water.
Listen to the Full Episode Here
Diving Deep into Urban Water Challenges
Knowledge for Good 2/19/2021
It can be easy to take clean water for granted. But one does not need to live in a remote village to suffer from water inequity. Challenges in reliable access to clean and safe water exist in urban areas across the United States and around the world. These issues create poor health outcomes and environmental hazards, especially for people in underprivileged communities. The Water Center at Penn is advancing solutions to critical global and regional water challenges through interdisciplinary research.
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Waterloop #70: Accelerating Change in Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers with Alison De Luise and Karl Russek
Waterloop 1/11/2020
Conversation and collaboration are key ingredients in accelerating change in water management across Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, where aging infrastructure, mining and fracking, and emerging pollutants like PFAS are part of the water challenges. In this episode, Alison De Luise, Senior Advisor at The Water Center at Penn, and Karl Russek, Director of Applied Research at the Water Center at Penn, talk about their work in the region to understand water challenges and the priorities of a wide spectrum of stakeholders. They also discuss launching a network of organizations, establishing a leadership incubator, and helping small towns find financial and technical assistance.
Listen to the Full Podcast Here
Four International Water Stories to Watch in 2021
circle of blue 1/13/2021
Scott Moore, a senior fellow at The Water Center at Penn, said to watch for rising tensions over water use in the basin, which is already beset by sand mining, saltwater encroachment, land subsidence, and a dam-building spree in countries besides China.
Read Full Newsletter Here
27 miles to go: getting the last piece of the Delaware swimmable and fishable
Delaware Currents 1/08/2021
Howard Neukrug, head of the Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, likes to push the goals of the CWA further. “Start with swimmable, fishable and drinkable, and add on safe, attractive, affordable, accessible, equitable and just.”
Read Full Newsletter Here
The Mission Beyond the Utility: 2020 WF&M Award Winner Andy Kricun
Water Finance & Management 12/17/2020
Everyone knows that running a water or wastewater utility is closely connected to the important mission of protecting the environment and public health. For Andy Kricun, the real mission has always been beyond the utility, making an impact on the community.
“I always believed very strongly that a big part of one’s life is to be appreciative of what you’re given and also to give back as much as possible,” he says, reflecting on how local utility work affects the general public.
Read Full Newsletter Here
The Water Center at Penn: Working at the Crossroads of Water, Equity and Climate Change
Volume 67 | Issue 21, 12/8/2020
Water infrastructure is often a stark physical manifestation of the deep systemic racial and social inequities with which our country continues to struggle. Over the course of American history, the biases that resulted in these inequities have at times been unconscious, but often all too intentional.
Less resourced communities face increasing threats to their water security. Flooding, rising sea levels, and drought not only threaten people’s homes, but also their lives and the environment they rely on. This is true despite the fact that there are few public services more fundamental to public health and safety, community social and economic sustainability, and climate resilience.
Read Full Article Here
The New Geopolitics of Climate Change
The Diplomat 12/01/2020
For the world’s climate activists, the last half of 2020 has been both the best and the worst of times. Even as the pandemic raged, at the September meeting of the United Nations General Assembly Chinese leader Xi Jinping unexpectedly pledged to make the world’s second-largest economy carbon neutral by 2060. Weeks later, Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, one-upped Beijing by pledging to do the same thing, but 10 years earlier. And in early November, the American people elected Joe Biden president on by far the most ambitious climate policy platform ever put forward by the world’s largest economy.
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Accelerating Transformational Change in Southwest Pennsylvania Water Management
A Project Newsletter from the Water Center at Penn 12/01/2020
Seeking Stakeholder Feedback on Draft Southwestern PA Water Network Vision/Purpose/Goals
Read Full Newsletter Here
Accelerating Transformational Change in Southwest Pennsylvania Water Management
A Project Newsletter from the Water Center at Penn 10/28/2020
I am incredibly excited about this month’s launch of our ‘SW PA Water Leadership Incubator Program’. This six-month program brings together a diverse group of our region’s next generation water leaders. We intend to promote relationship and trust-building and expose our future leaders to the collaborative leadership skills needed to catalyze a sustainable and just water future in the region.
At the same time, we continue to convene a high-level working group of regional stakeholders tasked with drafting the mission, values and goals for a regional water network, as well as the processes that will be needed to support its functioning. Stay tuned, as we will be testing the outputs of this group with you all shortly.
Read Full Newsletter Here
Tackling Water Affordability in Cities
Mayor Innovation Project 10/20/2020
Aging infrastructure, climate change, regional economic decline, and the new threats posed by COVID-19 have meant a tsunami of financial challenges for cities and their utilities. Maintaining safe yet affordable drinking and waste water continues to be a daunting challenge for many. When not actively addressed, this can lead to an unfair burden on those that can afford it the least: low-to-moderate income households that are disproportionately headed by women and/or people of color.
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A Federal Rollback of Wetland and Stream Protection Could Affect Philadelphia
grid 10/1/2020
When human activity gets in the way of these areas that fill with water, whether through tree removal or construction of roads and parking lots, thus converting those headwater areas into impermeable spaces, it results in a much more “erratic,” “flashy flow regime,” says Russek.
“Which aggravates flooding conditions,” he adds, “because a lot of that natural storage is gone.”
Read Full Article Here
DRBC Deputy Exec. Dr. & ACCC Members Participate in Climate Change Webinar
DRBC 9/25/2020
The Water Center at Penn helped celebrate Climate Week by hosting a webinar entitled From New York to Philadelphia: Expert Perspectives on Climate Change Impacts to Water Systems in the Delaware River Basin.
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Accelerating Transformational Change in Southwest Pennsylvania Water Management
A Project Newsletter from the Water Center at Penn 9/23/2020
Project events promotion.
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Environmental Politics and Policy Adaptation in China: The Case of Water Sector Reform
Water Policy 8/26/2020
Much of the literature on China’s successful adaptation to the policy challenges posed by economic development credits two principle approaches, gradualism and local experimentation. However, the extent to which these approaches aid policy adaptation to environmental policy challenges is less well-explored. This article examines how these approaches have shaped policy adaptation in water resources management by presenting data on ambitious water policy reforms that are, to our knowledge, new to the English-language scholarly literature.
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New DRBC Panel to Focus on Sea-Level Rise as Salt Front Threatens Drinking Water
NJSpotlight 8/14/2020
Committee chairman Howard Neukrug, the former head of Philadelphia Water Department, said his vision for the panel is to take its combined expertise and produce an analysis of how to protect drinking water and prevent flooding in the basin for the rest of the century. “Clearly, the future requires action now,” he said.
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Accelerating Transformational Change in Southwest Pennsylvania Water Management
A Project Newsletter from the Water Center at Penn 8/12/2020
Welcome to the August Project Newsletter. A lot has been going on of late, despite living in a physically-distanced world. In addition to some of the work showcased below, we have started meeting with a 23-member working group to develop draft recommendations related to network purpose, people and processes. We will be creating regular opportunities for the broader stakeholder community to provide feedback on key outputs of this group. Stay tuned for more information soon.
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waterloop #41: Howard Neukrug on Applying Research to Water Sustainability
Waterloop 8/10/2020
In this episode, Howard discusses why there is always activity and innovation around water in the Philadelphia area. He says that The Water Center at Penn is focused on applied research to solve urban water challenges, with faculty, staff, and students all contributing. Howard explains why integrated watershed management and stakeholder engagement are vital to water sustainability in the 21st century.
You can find the podcast here
What would it take to make the Delaware ‘swimmable’?
Penn Today 7/28/2020
With funding from the William Penn Foundation, the Water Center at Penn is investigating questions of water quality, access, and equity.
From its source in New York’s Catskill Mountains to its mouth in the Delaware Bay, the Delaware River serves many roles. Fifteen million people from four states drink its water. Several major cities lie on its shores. It’s a place for commerce, for wildlife, and, increasingly, even in its urban stretches, for fishing, kayaking, and other recreation.
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China’s Post-Pandemic Water Woes
The Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program 7/20/2020
Few places have suffered more from the COVID-19 pandemic than southern China, the region where the novel coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan. But it turned out that the pandemic is not the only calamity to befall south China this year. The region has been inundated by heavy rainfall since late May, creating a risk of catastrophic flooding.
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Accelerating Transformational Change in Southwest Pennsylvania Water Management
A Project Newsletter from the Water Center at Penn 6/25/2020
The purpose of this newsletter is to update you on the results our most recent round of virtual stakeholder engagements. I would also like to reaffirm to all of our regional stakeholders that there are still many opportunities to fully engage in this effort and to shape its outcome.
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Revealed: millions of Americans can’t afford water as bills rise 80% in a decade
The Guardian 6/23/2020
“High-cost low-quality water is a national issue … the federal government is clearly not playing the role it needs to play,” said Howard Neukrug, director of the water centre at the University of Pennsylvania and former head of Philadelphia’s water department.
“The bottom line is that assuming there’s no federal helicopter with $1tn, rates are going to go up dramatically to pay for infrastructure and quality issues,” he added.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer 5/4/2020
The COVID-19 crisis is hurting our communities in every way. The investments we make to deal with its immediate and long-term impacts will determine how quickly we recover from the pandemic as well as the economic downturn. Our nation’s water systems are fundamental to both. From the water we drink and wash our hands with, to the systems that manage floodwaters and protect our rivers, it is the foundation of healthy communities and thriving economies.
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A green solution to an aging stormwater system
The Washington Post 4/10/2020
Climate change means more floods, which overwhelm urban sewers and send raw sewage into rivers and streams. Philadelphia is aiming to capture rainwater before it flows into city drains.
Rising temperatures create more frequent intense downpours that overwhelm urban systems, sending raw sewage into waterways. Many cities, from the District to Chicago and San Francisco, have been scrambling to find ways to slow the flow.
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Accelerating Transformational Change in Southwest Pennsylvania Water Management
A Project Newsletter from the Water Center at Penn 2/27/2020
Welcome to the Water Center’s first project newsletter focused on our collective efforts to accelerate transformation change in the management of Southwest Pennsylvania’s waters. For those of you less familiar with this project, in early 2019, the Heinz Endowment asked the Water Center at Penn to undertake an assessment of the ‘State of the Waters’ in Southwest PA focusing on challenges and opportunities around water resource management as well as capabilities, priorities and drivers of the region’s water stakeholders.
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Water Challenges Inside and Outside China’s Borders: A Conversation with Scott Moore
China Power 2/19/2020
This episode explores the major challenges that threaten China’s water resources, from scarcity and mismanagement, to pollution and climate change. Our guest, Dr. Scott Moore, describes China’s sweeping attempts to mitigate the negative impacts that growing water challenges pose at home. Dr. Moore also discusses how China’s efforts to secure its water resources have created security challenges with its neighbors, and the ways in which China has exported many of its most ambitious water projects to Belt and Road partner countries.
Dr. Scott Moore is the Director of the Penn Global China Program and Senior Fellow at The Water Center and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
A Pittsburgh-Area Test Case in Working Across Political Boundaries to Address Flooding
The Allegheny Front 1/27/2020
Although these actions, on their own, may not lead to great change, a report released last year by the Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania and The Heinz Endowments* suggests these individuals may be paving the only path forward for the region. The report recommended investing in an incubator and an activist network.
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How Philadelphia’s Water Pollution Problems Shaped the City
Science History Institute, Distillations 1/22/2020
Philadelphia just had its wettest decade on record, and all that precipitation has wreaked havoc on the city’s waterways. Like most old cities, Philadelphia has a combined sewer system—that is, one pipe is used to carry both sewage and stormwater.
To listen to the podcast visit: Science History Institute
Philly Water Straight from the Tap
Penn Today 1/14/2020
At a celebratory culminating event for the Drink Philly Tap initiative, Yards Brewing CEO Tom Kehoe noted that his company worked hard to obtain the best-quality hops, barley, and other ingredients for their beers. That includes their products’ most abundant ingredient.
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Knowledge by the Slice: Is Flint a Signal of Things to Come? Our Nation’s Water Infrastructure Issuess
Omnia 10/10/2019
Howard Neukrug, Professor of Practice and Executive Director of The Water Center at Penn, discusses the underlying factors that led to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and what can be done to minimize similar problems in the future.
Adapting our Cities for Climate Change: Revolution or Evolution-Howard Neukrug
Penn Arts & Sciences-1.5 Minute Climate Lectures 9/11/2019
Faculty and students from across the University of Pennsylvania unite in a series of 1.5 Minute Climate Lectures to sound the alarm about the climate emergency, to call for large-scale climate action, and to share a vision of constructive and comprehensive response.
Philly’s Drinking Water Threatened by Climate Change
NBC10 8/09/2019
The Water Center at Penn executive director, Howard Neukrug, was interviewed by NBC10. In the interview, Howard explains there are two ways to adapt to climate change, “one way is to continue to build more capacity underground and the other way is to start changing how you manage your land”.
(Credit: Krystal Klei)
To watch the video click here.
Philadelphia Water seeks surge in tap water enthusiasts
Connections Article 7/18/2019
To increase local support for drinking home-town tap water instead of bottled water, the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) and three partner nonprofit organizations have launched the Drink Philly Tap Coalition.
Other coalition partners are ImpactED (University of Pennsylvania), The Water Center at Penn (founded and directed by Howard Neukrug, former Water Commissioner of Philadelphia Water and honorary AWWA member) and PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center. (Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Water)
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Relieving Water Scarcity, One Home at a Time
Penn Today 7/8/2019
Mehta, a rising junior from Dallas, was in the city on behalf of Isla Urbana, an international nonprofit devoted to providing clean drinking water to residents of Mexico City through rainwater collection. This past fall, Mehta teamed up with her friend and fellow Penn student Pallavi Menon of Bangalore, India, to start their own chapter of Isla Urbana, Spanish for “urban island,” on campus. They have made it their mission to get Penn students involved in mediating the crisis.
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Toxins from the Tap
Penn Today 6/21/2019
Howard Neukrug, Executive Director at The Water Center at Penn talks about PFAS contamination in groundwater.
Penn Today spoke with Howard Neukrug, executive director of the Water Center at Penn and a professor of practice in the School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Earth and Environmental Science, about PFAS contamination, including the fear that surrounds the issue, how local and federal agencies are responding, and the many questions that remain unanswered.
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Keeping Rain Out of the Drain
Penn Today 6/3/2019
Howard Neukrug, Executive Director at The Water Center at Penn was consulted on this article as an expert in green stormwater infrastructure.
The “Green Cities” plan in particular places emphasis on green infrastructure—increasing permeable surfaces—over traditional infrastructure like larger stormwater pipes and storage tanks. The 25-year initiative, which emerged under the leadership of Howard Neukrug, then-commissioner and CEO of Philadelphia Water and now a professor of practice and executive director of the Water Center at Penn, aims to reduce stormwater pollution entering city waterways by 85 percent. The plan includes provisions to encourage large property owners to take on the brunt of the responsibility in reducing CSOs.
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Putting Mussels to the Test
Penn Today 5/8/2019
Byron Sherwood, Senior Fellow at The Water Center at Penn discusses his projects with Penn Students.
Looking to the future, with an additional appointment as a senior fellow in the Water Center at Penn and with support from the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities and a School of Arts and Sciences’ Making a Difference in Diverse Communities grant, Sherwood would like to impress upon more people the diversity and dynamicism of life in the water.
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Five new utilities join the LUOW network to commemorate its second anniversary in London
Leading Utilities of the World 4/2019
9 April, London – Howard Neukrug assisted The Leading Utilities of the World (LUOW) network to inaugurate five new members during Global Water Summit (GWS) 2019. With the newest inauguration event, the LUOW network now includes 41 members in total, all of which represent the gold standard of utility innovation and performance.
The inauguration took place on Day 1 of the GWS, and the five new utilities accepted for LUOW membership were:
• Berliner Wasserbetriebe, Germany (represented by Jörg Simon, CEO)
• DEWA, UAE (represented by H.E. Abdullah Obaidullah, EVP Water and Civil)
• Águas de Portugal, Portugal (represented by Alexandra Serra, CEO, Águas de Portugal International)
• SIAAP, France (represented by Jean-Didier Berthault, Vice President)
• Yarra Valley Water, Australia (represented by Pat McCafferty, Managing Director)
The five new member utilities were approved and accepted into the network by the LUOW Advisory Board.
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Drink Tap Philly Wants you to Drink the City’s Wooder
WHYY 4/08/2019
That’s what a new campaign called Drink Tap Philly is hoping to do. Led by a coalition of four groups, including ImpactED at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Water Department, PennEnvironment, and the Water Center at Penn, the campaign launches later this month and wants to deliver the message that Philly’s water is safer, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than bottled water.
“What we’re trying to do is empower residents in Philadelphia with information and knowledge to choose drinking tap water over bottled water,” said ImpactED’s Nina Hoe Gallagher, who is leading the coalition.
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Confronting Inequities, Sharing Solutions
Penn Today 3/26/2019
At this year’s meeting of the Global Water Alliance, experts shared their challenges and success stories in addressing disparities in access to water.
There’s a straight line from water access to social progress, according to Eleanor Allen, CEO of the international nonprofit Water for People. “If we don’t have basic services, if we don’t know where we’re going to go to the bathroom,” she explained, “how can we concentrate on creating a better future for ourselves?”
As part of the keynote talk at this year’s Global Water Alliance (GWA) meeting, held at Penn, Allen laid out the rationale that drives her organization’s mission of ensuring that people around the world have access to clean, reliable water that can help break the cycle of poverty and set the stage for economic growth, a trajectory that paves the way for social progress.
Inequities abound in water access in both the United States and globally. This year’s gathering of the GWA focused on implementing solutions that address inequities in the world of water, sanitation, and hygiene, taking an inclusive approach.
To do so, an implicit goal of the meeting was to begin “to address these complex problems” by working across disciplines, according to Howard Neukrug, executive director of the Water Center at Penn, which was one of the sponsors of this year’s conference. The conference itself was a step in the right direction, as Neukrug noted the diverse representation and enthusiasm present in the room, with people trained in engineering, ecology, social justice, economics, entrepreneurship, and international development.
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Water Access is a Problem in the U.S., Affecting Minority and Rural Groups the Most
WHYY 3/22/2019
When it comes to a lack of clean water, many Americans think of the problem as one confined to the developing world. And, indeed, of the 2 billion people worldwide who don’t have access to safe drinking water, the majority live outside the United States.
But as speakers at the 12th Annual Global Water Alliance Conference highlighted this week at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, some of the same challenges to water access in developing countries exist here as well.
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Resiliency by Design
The Pennsylvania Gazette 2/21/2019
Howard Neukrug CE’78 observed during a January symposium titled “Building Resilience in Design”—presented by PennDesign with Rockefeller Foundation support—“no one talks about cities and resilience without talking about water.”
As founding director of the Water Center at Penn and former CEO of the Philadelphia Water Department—where he established an innovative stormwater management program emphasizing porous pavement and rain gardens instead of a single-minded focus on traditional engineering solutions—Neukrug can be forgiven for being biased. Yet the watery aspects of climate change loomed large at the all-day roundtable, which served as the official launch of PennDesign’s new Urban Resilience Certificate program. Presentations by urban planners, architects, and engineers—plus an activist, a sociologist, and a risk analyst—also touched on issues ranging from forest fires, to the urban heat island effect, to coral reef restoration.
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Designing with Resilience to Prepare for a Changing World
PennToday 1/28/2019
Howard Neukrug, executive director of the Water Center and a professor of practice, made an appeal for cross-campus collaboration with an introduction to the Center and its goal of encouranging innovation around the issue of water. Known internationally for the Green Cities, Clean Water initiative formed while he led the Philaelphia Water Department, Neukrug is aiming to leverage Penn’s academic expertise and “help bridge that gap from the academic to applied research to solve our real-world water needs.”
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If the Schuylkill Isn’t Cleared of Silt, Penn Rowing May no Longer get to Use it in 2020
The Daily Pennsylvanian 9/20/2018
Rowing teams who use the Schuylkill River as a training location might soon be forced off the river if it is not cleared of silt.
As the Temple Men’s Crew head coach and a member of the Fairmount Rowing Association, Brian Perkins spends much of his time on the Schuylkill River’s boathouse row. He explained that the buildup of silt in the river has made it increasingly difficult for rowing teams to use the iconic Philadelphia waterway.
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Leveraging Penn’s Expertise to Meet Challenges in the Water Sector
University of Pennsylvania Almanac 7/17/2018
The newly launched Water Center at Penn, led by Professor of Practice Howard Neukrug, aims to open an innovation pipeline focused on water.
Bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners, the Water Center aims to serve as a regional hub of water expertise.
With utility costs on the rise, many low-income families struggle to pay their bills, often making difficult choices about where to allot their limited funds. Though not typically seen as social-service agencies, city-run utilities are contending with how to ensure customers have access to crucial resources, such as water, while continuing to operate sustainably.
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Why Does it Take so Long to Upgrade Philly’s Water Infrastructure? Here’s an Explanation
Plan Philly 7/13/2018
When a broken water main sent 15 million gallons surging into Center City streets, public attention was riveted by scenes of pedestrians sloshing along and a cave-in that threatened to swallow the intersection of Juniper and Sansom.
The July 3 rupture raised a lot of questions for Philadelphians. Chief among them: Is the city’s water infrastructure too old or too shoddy to prevent such events? Is the Water Department, like seemingly everything else, underfunded?
According to current and former water commissioners, Philadelphia does not have a water infrastructure crisis, despite those apocalyptic images.
“We’ve had a number of breaks of this magnitude in the past decade,” said Howard Neukrug, who was water commissioner under Mayor Michael Nutter and is now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “And it will happen again. This is common throughout the Northeast and Midwest, which has a lot of infrastructure very similar to what we have in Philadelphia.”
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Leveraging Penn’s Expertise to Meet Challenges in the Water Sector
Penn Today 5/30/2018
The newly launched Water Center at Penn, led by Professor of Practice Howard Neukrug, aims to open an innovation pipeline focused on water. With utility costs on the rise, many low-income families struggle to pay their bills, often making difficult choices about where to allot their limited funds. Though not typically seen as social-service agencies, city-run utilities are contending with how to ensure customers have access to crucial resources, such as water, while continuing to operate sustainably.
Read Full Article Here
Making Connections and Leveraging Dollars
Waterfront Alliance 5/11/2018
Howard Neukrug is a professor of professional practice in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Pennsylvania and the recent founder of the university’s Water Center. He spent 37 years at the Philadelphia Water Department, founding its Office of Watersheds and creating its award-winning Green City, Clean Waters program. He was a featured speaker on a stormwater management panel at this year’s Waterfront Conference on May 8. We caught up with Howard after his panel to learn more.
Read Howard’s Interview Here
