SOUTHWEST WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT

 

Meadow Projects

 

The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) is developing meadow areas at some of its water and wastewater treatment plants.  The areas are planted with warm-season grasses and wildflowers which grow to a natural height of approximately three feet.  Meadows provide habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife, as well as color and interest to the landscape. 

(Click on the photo for a larger view)

Meadows also provide cost savings when compared to regularly-mowed lawns – they only need to be mowed once or twice a year, compared to about every three weeks during a growing season of about eight months (for Philadelphia’s climate), for regular lawns.

 

Bird boxes, primarily for swallows, have been erected in these meadows.  Swallows are voracious insect eaters, and they add additional natural beauty to the sites.  The meadows also provide an aesthetically-improved natural environment that is appreciated by PWD’s employees, as well as an educational opportunity for the many student tours and other visitors that PWD plants host.

          

The meadow projects are part of PWD’s efforts to support natural landscapes in some of Philadelphia’s most-developed industrial areas.  PWD works with organizations such as the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Friends of the Poquessing Watershed, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and a number of others, that are interested in preserving and developing native habitats in urban areas.

          

You can create a wildlife habitat in your yard.  Native plants are natural attractors for many birds and butterflies.  Click here to see which plants best attract birds and butterflies.

 

Photos of SWWPCP Meadow (click on the photo for a larger view):

 

 

 

 

Back to EPAC