Our Crumbling City

By John J. Dougherty

Without substantial investments, Philadelphia's infrastructure will become our greatest nightmare.

As president of the Pennsport Civic Association in South Philadelphia, I have heard from numerous residents about repeat floods. As a result of the construction of the new Eagles and Phillies stadiums - as well as the new Lowe's and Ikea shopping centers in the Pennsport community - our sewer and run-off water systems in the southern end of the 1st Senatorial District and as far north as Northern Liberties are woefully over-burdened. Even minor rain results in flooded basements and homes. Worse still, the flood water is a noxious stew of rain water and raw sewage that has jeopardized residents' health.

The city's ancient sewer infrastructure has simply not kept pace with the rapid rate of commercial and residential development. Engineers in other U.S. cities view combined sewer-rain water run-off pipes as the culprit. Only about 800 U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, still rely on combined systems. The rest - some 20,000 municipalities - carry wastewater and storm runoff in separate pipes.

The separate pipes prevent overflows and are more efficient because treatment plants don't have to accommodate storm runoff along with wastewater.

We are not alone in confronting this challenge. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted to approve double-digit increases to water and sewer rates to finance the rebuilding of the city's aging water and sewer systems. In Washington, D.C., a bill was recently passed that designated $1.8 million for the District to begin fixing its sewer system. Like Philadelphia, D.C. has a century-old combined water/sewage system.

There are enormous penalties for waiting until a crisis ensues. Baltimore will soon undergo a 14-year sewer upgrade that will cost approximately $940 million, according to a lawsuit settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of Maryland.

Similarly, the DOJ and EPA recently reached a $2 billion settlement with Los Angeles after 4,500 sewage spills in the past decade. Philadelphia has 3,300 miles of sewer lines that are crumbling under our feet. A coordinated plan involving city, state and federal leadership is needed to avert future floods - of sewage and lawsuits.

One resource we should take advantage of is PENNVEST, a state-run agency that funds sewer, storm water and drinking water projects throughout the Commonwealth. Among many major civic projects, PENNVEST was successfully used on the development of the Wachovia Center site. These projects not only contribute to improving Pennsylvania's environment and the health of its people, they also provide opportunities for economic growth and jobs for Pennsylvania's workers.

Fixing our infrastructure deficiencies won't be easy or inexpensive, but it must be done. Another program we need to take better advantage of is Cityworks, a GIS-centric project management solutions application already in use in the City's highway operations, street lighting, construction and facilities, and survey units as well as in the management of the "Smooth Streets" initiative. Overall, CityWorks has been a success, but we can do more. As Senator, I will work hard to secure funding to create a 1st district wide "MuniSync" pilot program that will build upon the successes of Cityworks by scaling the program to include state and municipal departments, as well as telecom and other interests whose construction and maintenance schedules often overlap to the long-term detriment of the very infrastructure and populations they are working to support. In deploying MuniSync, newly laid streets will no longer be torn up to accommodate an already scheduled water, sewage or gas pipe replacement, nor the installation of new electrocommunications lines.

By creating this multi-tiered GIS project management system, "MuniSync" will synchronize municipal works projects across departments, enhance quality of life in affected neighborhoods, preserve and enhance our infrastructure and save tax payers money.

As someone who has been invested in the building trades, I understand how and why economies of scale work and this type of project management is essential to reducing costs. I will work with State entities, the Mayor's office, the Managing Director's Office, the City Planning Commission, department heads, and union leaders to marshal support for "MuniSync" and believe that I am the only candidate that is in a position to make the program a reality.