4/22
Water
Unlocking the potential of ‘smart’ water in responding to climate change
Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning Allison Lassiter researches unlocking the potential of ‘smart’ water in responding to climate change.
A call for tools to navigate the future of the Delaware River watershed
The Penn Program in Environmental Humanities is partnering with Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum to solicit designs for tools to help Delaware River watershed residents adapt and respond to climate change and other ecological challenges.
Rethinking resilience in the face of climate change
Hurricane Ida brought record-breaking rainfall and flooding, and stronger, more destructive storms will inevitably come. Being better prepared will require reconsidering how to protect people and their homes.
Empowering refugee communities with access to clean water
With project Maji, seniors Martin Leet and Leah Voytovich will use their President’s Engagement Prize to install a solar-powered water tank and provide agricultural and first aid training for members of the Olua I community.
Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge
The student-led project will reimagine the campus of West Philadelphia’s Andrew Hamilton School, including vegetable gardens, a food forest, and other green stormwater-management tools.
Energy and water autonomy for off-grid waterfront floating structures
The Thermal Architecture Lab at the Weitzman School is part of a collaboration to develop energy and water autonomous systems for off-grid floating structures that are designed to adapt to rising waters.
At the intersection of water, equity, and climate change
The Water Center at Penn is collaborating to help guide community decisions to build capacity in water infrastructure.
Is your drinking water toxic? This app may help you find out
A new tool developed by Penn Medicine researchers informs users about their potential exposure to hydraulic fracturing chemicals.
What would it take to make the Delaware ‘swimmable’?
With funding from the William Penn Foundation, the Water Center at Penn is investigating questions of water quality, access, and equity.
Design travels to South Carolina to plan more protective urban coastlines
A Weitzman School team is working with the city of Charleston on an urban seawall plan that combines natural elements with structural systems that respond to the local conditions of the city’s shoreline.
In the News
Cool for the summer
Joseph Wharton, founder of the Wharton School is referenced for having influenced Philadelphia’s sources of drinking water. Wharton proposed building a series of canals and lakes from the Pine Barrens, channeling the water west, into a pipe that would cross beneath the Delaware, into Philadelphia.
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Climate change could threaten Philly’s drinking water
Allison Lassiter of the Weitzman School of Design discusses the options for protecting Philadelphia drinking water if rising seas and drought threaten sections of the Delaware River.
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From the U.N. climate conference, advice for Philly as it adapts to global warming
A delegation of Penn students, researchers, and faculty who attended the COP27 climate conference offer their ideas for how Philadelphia officials can work to make the goals of the Paris Agreement a reality.
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Delaware Valley experts, residents call ‘forever chemical’ health screening recommendations a ‘bold step’
Mary Regina Boland of the Perelman School of Medicine says patients could lower their environmental health risks by discovering the source of their exposure to toxic chemicals.
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Philly’s drinking water threatened by climate change
Howard Neukrug of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the potential effects of climate change on Philadelphia’s water supply. “We’ve seen a lot of one in one-hundred-year events occurring back to back,” says Neukrug.
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On ‘Day Zero,’ Cape Town Will Run Out of Water. It’s Not the Only City at Risk.
Scott Moore of the School of Arts and Sciences writes about the Cape Town water crisis and how it is spreading to other areas.
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