Mario Bautista
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During a recent recess at Alexander Adaire Elementary School in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia, some children took a break from the asphalt playground and ran down a cool and breezy trail shaded by red bud, honey locust and oak trees.
The small pathway led the young students along a colorful rain garden of native plants, home to insects and birds. The rain garden not only gives students a chance to learn about nature, but it also soaks up stormwater runoff from the playground, parking lot and the nearby street.
Adaire is just one Philadelphia school that has converted asphalt into green spaces that also soak up rain and prevent water pollution. It’s part of a Philadelphia Water Department initiative that began more than 10 years ago. About a third of the city’s elementary schools have rain gardens, pollinator habitat and tree canopy, and the district hopes to transform more schoolyards citywide.
The district is one step closer to its goal, thanks to help from the Nature Conservancy, which will use a $1 million U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant to build green stormwater infrastructure at four elementary schools in South Philadelphia and the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood.
“We see the benefits that green infrastructure provides to our students, and those accelerated benefits outside stormwater management — the greening, the calming, the improvement of air quality and creating space within our school yards and our campuses,” said Emma Melvin, the Philadelphia School District’s green infrastructure program manager.
