greening the city essay 3 week 5

Greening the City of Philadelphia Name: Institution: Course: Date: Greening the City of Philadelphia Being one of the most populous cities in the United States and the largest in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia experiences all of the main challenges that most major cities are facing today. There is a population influx in most of the areas and the demands on the physical structures that were constructed decades ago is mounting significantly. The more the population rises the more the other challenges also come up. Aspects such as effects of the climate change are constantly breaking new ground and with more destructive elements. It is no longer possible for the city planners to ignore or develop short term plans that do not take these elements into considerations. It is also important to note that, financial resources are constantly dwindling and planners have to make do with what they are offered and provide sustainable solutions that will last another several decades or more.[Philadelphia Water Department, Green City Clean Waters, ebook, 1st ed., 2011.] [Phillywatersheds.org, "Green City, Clean Waters | Philadelphia Water Department", Phillywatersheds.Org, last modified 2016, accessed April 22, 2016, /what_were_doing/documents_and_data/cso_long_term_control_plan.] In the city of Philadelphia the issues regarding storm water and the sewage systems have been recurring for quite some time now. The demand for better sewage systems and the infrastructure to handle the storm waters are mounting with the changes in the climate shifts. For the city planners, this is a real challenge and one that has to be approached from several dimensions that include both the sewerage and storm water sustainable solutions. According to the combined sewer overflow control program, there are ways to come up with an efficient system that is going to help the city overcome most to these challenges for quite some in the future. The program is set to bring about solutions that will help reduce the challenges associated with the environment, financial, environment and demographic. At the same time the program is set to attend to most of the rising demands and expectations from the customers with regard to affordable water supply, high quality treatment plans for the storm waters, clean and attractive rivers across the city.[Sustainablecitiescollective.com, "Urban Sustainability Best Practices | Sustainable Cities Collective", Sustainablecitiescollective.Com, last modified 2016, accessed April 22, 2016, /kaidbenfield/204156/city-sustainability-leaders-share-their-successes-guide-greening-cities.] For a city like Philadelphia, the program of such magnitude is one that could easily turn around the city and make it one of the most attractive as well as most lucrative. However there are challenges that have to be addressed and specifically with reference to the old infrastructure. The planners have to decide whether they are going to build the new infrastructure over the old ones, or expand the old ones. Ideally the best approach would be to create a new system network, after having renovated and expanded the capabilities of the old system. This will largely go a long way in reducing the cost of establishi...