On the Delaware, a promising new era in cleanup of an urban river | Hacker News Reader

On the Delaware, a promising new era in cleanup of an urban river

e360.yale.edu

53 pointschmaynard17 comments

> The city is concerned that upgrading cleanliness standards would require investments that would lead to higher water rates.

For anyone reading that isn't from around here, water is by far the cheapest possible utility in Philadelphia. Typically less than $20/month for even large scale usage. If that even doubles it will still be an order of magnitude less than what anyone in the city pays for electric and gas.

Nit: If it doubles, the price will be $40. An order of magnitude greater is $400. Does anyone pay remotely that much for electric and gas?

You might be surprised to find that there are lots of McMansions in the desert that cost this much to keep cool in the summer.

Philly is a very poor city though, modest increases in COL hit hard.

I live in a smallish rowhome in Philly and our water bill is a lot more than $20 each month. But, it's usually a bit less than our gas bill and much lower than electricity and cable.

ah, the somewhat famous 'If I made this place any nicer, you couldn't afford it'

I grew up in Philadelphia, not very far from the Delaware, and it's weird to look back and think of how little mind-space the river takes up. It's just the thing you need to cross to go to New Jersey. The Schuylkill looms much larger.

Yeah, it's not very accessible at all. In the Northeast at least, to get there you have to cross I-95, then a block of industrial area, then the actual river is usually blocked off by a tree line. And it's like that for 90% of the coast.

95 really sucks for a lot of reasons. i like to imagine a world where the smart thing was done and it became a ring road around the city instead of just cutting directly along the waterfront.

always hated the spring garden el stop because of it being in sitting directly between the north and southbound lanes. it's just vaguely uncomfortable to stand on the platform as cars speed by in both directions, which makes them feel closer than they actually are.

It's not easy from the jersey side either, at least it wasn't before Google maps.

fun fact, kids in the river towns call themselves river rats.

FYI: You can get to the river at the River Winds restaurant in Deptford. It's basically all rocks, but it's still pretty cool.

I'd agree with this only because the Schuylkill has better access and recreation. One of the things the article ties together well is Philly's aging sewer system, which, during heavy rains gets overwhelmed and spits raw sewage into the rivers.

I've taken note of the mitigation efforts of "rain gardens" and such around the city. Sometimes there's just a series of ditches next to the sidewalk. The series around the Zoo caught my eye, like "why is this here?". But the city did a great job putting plants in there and making it look pretty as well as functional.

One of the things I've noticed, especially during heavy rain is the crazy amount of plastic bottles that end up in the rivers, which then go to the ocean. We really need to do a better job with that, as individuals and in infrastructure like better sewer grates.

It's also interesting in that these green initiatives are helping kick the can down the road on major replacement/bettering of the sewer infrastructure. Both need to be done, but progress is progress. Happy Friday everyone!

I think part of this is because the Delaware is wide enough to be a divider - you can't comfortably walk across it, for example. (If I recall correctly only one of the Philadelphia-area bridges even has pedestrian access.) The Schuylkill, on the other hand, is easy to cross.

> One of the things I've noticed, especially during heavy rain is the crazy amount of plastic bottles that end up in the rivers, which then go to the ocean.

Tell that to half of Philadelphia that throws their trash in sewer grates. It's almost like it's taught to them in school

Some cities are defined by their rivers, like Paris or London. And then there are cities where you might blink and miss the city’s river (Bucharest), or the river is something you only see once a year when you e.g. visit that Chinese restaurant down that way (Madrid).

Atlanta wasn't built on its river but on a ridge a few miles away, so the Chattahoochee isn't something you think about. (Unless you have to commute across it, as I did back when commutes were a thing, and you realize that your route choices are seriously limited by that fact.) On the bright side a lot of the river has been preserved for recreation as a result.

Random etymology

> The state was named after the Delaware River, which in turn derived its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577–1618) who was the ruling governor of the Colony of Virginia at the time Europeans first explored the river. The Delaware people, a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley, also derive their name from the same source.

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