Sunday Cinema: "Last Call at the Oasis"
2016-12-18 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Join us every Sunday afternoon for Sunday Cinema – a free series featuring movies and documentaries that surround a water theme. It’s a great family-friendly event, and we’ll show a different movie every month. (Film selection subject to change.)
“Last Call at the Oasis”: A documentary on the world’s water crisis.

"Falling Waters: The Legacy of the Schuylkill Navigation" (Reception)
2016-12-29 17:30 - 19:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Falling Waters: The Legacy of the Schuylkill Navigation
A Culture & Conversation Exhibit by Sandy Sorlien
On exhibit in our Media Room and stairwell until December 30, 2016, during regular hours.
Closing Reception: Thursday December 29, 5:30-7 PM, Gallery Talk 6:15

About the Exhibit
No human endeavor has had a greater influence on the Schuylkill River than its 19th century network of dams. Yet residents of Southeastern Pennsylvania today may know little about the Schuylkill Navigation, as most of its infrastructure is gone. There were once 32 dams, 46 miles of slackwater pools, 62 miles of canals, and 120 locks.
Constructed from 1816-1828 to tame the wild river, the privately-owned system extended 108 miles from Fairmount to Port Carbon. Thus began a long period of human dominance of the river for our own purposes: transportation, commerce, power, and recreation. Anthracite coal, other raw materials, and finished goods were carried on barges over this system, literally fueling the Industrial Revolution in the Schuylkill Valley. It brought numerous factory boom towns like Norristown, Conshohocken, and Manayunk. Unfortunately, with this development came heavy pollution of Philadelphia’s drinking water source. Finally in 1947-51, our state and federal government accomplished a massive cleanup, the Schuylkill River Project, dredging coal silt from the river and largely restoring its flow.
Most of the infrastructure of the Schuylkill Navigation was demolished. But there are four remaining navigation dams, two desilting dams, two watered canals, one working lock, and numerous dam abutments, lock ruins, canal traces, and silt impoundment basins. Some remnants are buried or overgrown or blocked by railways. In 2013, photographer Sandy Sorlien began looking for them.
At the 200th anniversary of the Schuylkill Navigation, this exhibition represents the first three years of Sandy’s ongoing quest to photograph all 32 dam sites on her native river.
“Falling Waters” will be on display at the Fairmount Water Works from September 15 – December 31, 2016. (The gallery is occasionally used for private events. Calling ahead is suggested.)
About the Artist
Sandy Sorlien is a photographer, neighborhood planner, and watershed educator. Her photographs are in the collections of numerous institutions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Michener Museum, and Haverford College. Since 2012 Sandy has been a contractor at the Fairmount Water Works, the education arm of Philadelphia Water. She has developed several upriver dam-related programs, including the Falling Waters tour series and the Schuylkill Dam Series geocaches. She was born and raised in the Schuylkill River watershed and lives in Roxborough near the Manayunk Canal. Sandy rows out of Bachelors Barge Club on Boathouse Row, and watches carefully for herons, kingfishers, and otters – all biological indicators of a healthy river.
About Culture & Conversation
Using art as the platform, Culture & Conversation prompts meaningful, thought-provoking dialogue about our environment.

Science Saturday - "Diatoms: Jewels of the River"
2017-01-07 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-01-28 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-02-04 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-02-11 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-02-18 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-02-25 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-03-04 14:00 - 16:00, 2017-03-18 14:00 - 16:00 and 1 more date | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Drop in every Saturday between 2-4 pm, and together, we’ll explore different aspects of our environment during fun and interactive sessions in our water lab.
Art and science meet as you explore the colorful and wondrous microscopic world of water. Discover the complex and intricate beauty of these hidden single-celled algae called diatoms along with their contribution to water quality research.
Diatoms have a glass-like silica cell wall that consists of two halves that elegantly fit together. In the 19th century amateur scientists amused themselves by arranging them in intricate patterns, in the 20th century, famed woman ecologist Ruth Patrick pioneered the study of these small cells to study water pollution.

A Closer Look at Diatoms
2017-01-08 13:00 - 17:00 | PA
Come visit the Fairmount Water Works during our Sunday operating hours for a self-guided version of “Diatoms: Jewels of the River”. Through a lens, view these colorful and wonderfully complex hidden algae…

Science Saturday: "Diatoms: Jewels of the River"
2017-01-14 14:00 - 16:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States

A Closer Look at Diatoms
2017-01-15 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-01-22 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-02-05 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-02-12 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-02-19 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-02-26 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-03-05 13:00 - 17:00, 2017-03-12 13:00 - 17:00 and 2 more dates | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States

Science Saturday - "Diatoms: Jewels of the River”
2017-01-21 14:00 - 16:00 | PA

CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC (Private Event)
2017-01-29 13:00 - 17:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States

Science Saturday - "Diatoms: Jewels of the River"
2017-03-11 14:00 - 16:00 | PA

Fracking: Up Close and Personal Eye Witness Report from Dimock, PA
2017-03-12 14:00 - 16:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Join the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Greater Philadelphia Branch) as local residents discuss how their communities have been affected by fracking. Also hear about the important work of local environmental organizations.
This event is open to the public.
Click here for the event flyer.

2017 Walk for Water
2017-03-25 07:30 - 12:30 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
The Fairmount Water Works is proud to partner with Keiyo Soy Ministries and the Global Water Alliance for the 2017 Walk for Water, taking place along the Schuylkill River Trail!
Keiyo Soy Ministries (KSM) is an organization dedicated to raising funds to combat the urgent need for clean water in Kerio Valley in the Rift Valley Province of northern Kenya.
Registration is $25 (Deadline March 25, 2017).
To learn more, call Dr. Elijah Korich at 267.528.8285, or visit www.ksmministries.com.

Science Saturday – "A Day in the Life of the Schuylkill River: The Exploration Continues"
2017-04-01 14:00 - 16:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Spring is a time when life in the stream comes alive. Macroinvertebrates are organisms that are big enough for you to see with the bare eye, but without backbones. Mayflies, water pennies, caddisflies, and stoneflies…scientists use these freshwater creatures as natural indicators of river health. In our water lab, act like a scientist to inspect and characterize your own virtual river sample. Do they have legs or shells? Are they “shredders”, “grazers”, or “collectors”? Learn all about these creatures during this family-friendly program.

Sunday Selfie: Rachel Carson
2017-04-02 13:00 - 17:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Take your photo with a renowned scientist – taking the history of science to a new dimension (2-D that is).
This quarter, come take your picture with a full-size image of Rachel Carson standing with her binoculars, observing the natural world. On the main floor of the FWW, and learn about her contributions to launching the modern environmental movement, in particular with a copy of Silent Spring, the book that awakened the concern of Americans for the environment.
About Rachel Carson

Born May 27, 1907, in Springdale, PA.
World renowned marine biologist, author, and environmentalist.
Served as editor-in-chief for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Best known for her fourth book, Silent Spring, which alerted the world to the environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides and has been credited with launching the contemporary environmental movement and awakening the concern of Americans for the environment.
Appointed a junior aquatic biologist with the Bureau of Fisheries and became one of only two women then employed with the Bureau at a professional level (1936).
Testified before a Congressional committee after the federal government ordered a complete review of its pesticide policy. As a direct result, DDT was banned (1963).
The Fish & Wildlife Service named one of its refuges near Carson’s summer home on the coast of Maine as the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge to honor the memory of this extraordinary woman (1969).
Remembered as an early activist who worked to preserve the world for future generations.

Take a selfie with this environmental she-ro, and share it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, using the hashtag #FWWDiscover.
