Fairmount Water Works

Special Tour: We Drink the River
2019-09-12 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | PA
Where does our tap water come from? Where does our waste water go? Join the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center for a behind the scenes bus tour of the Philadelphia Water Department’s drinking water system. Learn how it’s connected to our rivers, including past and present-day infrastructure that brings us clean and safe drinking water every day.

The Watershed is an Open Book
2019-10-10 17:00 - 18:30 | Gideon Elementary School, 2817 W. Glenwood Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19121, United States
A Hands-On Early Literacy Program for 5-8 Year Olds and Their Families!

Workshops with a seasonal theme to help build reading readiness using “teachable” moments in your own neighborhood.
Great incentives for frequent attendance, such as backpacks loaded with things to help your child read, explore, and play in the outdoors!
Partners: Gideon Elementary School & Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center
Supported by the William Penn Foundation

The Watershed is an Open Book
2019-10-10 17:00 - 18:30 | Gideon Elementary School, 2817 W. Glenwood Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19121, United States
Hands-On Early Literacy Program for 5-8 Year Olds & Their Families

If you live in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philadelphia, this program is for you!

Monthly workshops to help build reading readiness using “teachable” moments in your own neighborhood.
Great incentives for frequent attendance, such as books to build your home library.
Partners: Edward Gideon School and the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center
Supported by the William Penn Foundation
There is no fee, but pre-registration is required. Space is limited so sign up today!

4th Saturdays at the Water Works
2019-10-26 13:00 - 16:00, 2019-11-30 13:00 - 16:00, 2019-12-28 13:00 - 16:00 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States

Points of View Speaker Series: City Water, City Life
2019-10-26 14:00 - 15:30 | PA
In City Water, City Life, historian and author Carl Smith explores the development of the first successful waterworks systems in Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago between the 1790s and the 1860s. Smith shows how the discussion, design, and use of waterworks reveal how Americans framed their conceptions of urban democracy and how they understood the natural and the built environment, individual health and the well-being of society, and the qualities of time and history. Smith is the Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English & American Studies at Northwestern University.
Cost: $15 (free for PAFA members)

Virtual Teacher Training
2020-04-21 16:00 - 18:00, 2020-04-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2020-04-23 16:00 - 18:00 | PA
If you are a teacher looking to engage with students, this training is for you!
For Earth Day and Climate Change Activism Week: Be part of an online network of teachers as we navigate through Understanding the Urban Watershed, FWWIC’s online curriculum. It is packed with resources that easily adapt to distance learning. These are 1 hour e-workshops. The Curriculum is designed for middle school, but all grade teachers are welcome.
Facilitator:
Ellen Schultz (Director for Education Partnerships, Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center)
Free. Registration required.

Virtual Teacher Training
2020-04-29 16:00 - 18:00, 2020-05-06 16:00 - 18:00, 2020-05-13 16:00 - 18:00 | PA
Participatory Webinars for Teachers

Join our growing network of teachers online this week as we take a deep dive into engaging, fun and practical learning experiences about water and our watershed. We will demonstrate how to deliver remote lessons that can be completed in and around students’ homes. These are 1-hour e-workshop sessions designed for middle school, but all grade teachers are welcome.

Free. Registration required.

Inspiring Water Workshops for Teaching and Learning
2020-07-08 10:00 - 11:00, 2020-07-15 10:00 - 11:00, 2020-07-22 10:00 - 11:00, 2020-07-29 10:00 - 11:00 | Online
In July join other Middle and High School Teachers on Wednesday mornings for a series of teacher professional development workshops facilitated by Ellen Freedman Schultz, Director of Education Partnerships, FAIRMOUNT WATER WORKS.
Wednesdays in July from 10 am to 11 am (July 8, 15, 22 and 29th)
In partnership with GreenFutures, the School District of Philadelphia’s sustainability program
Topics linked to our Award-Winning UNDERSTANDING THE URBAN WATERSHED Curriculum, a standards-driven, hands-on, locally-focused series of Units on Water, Water Systems and Watersheds
Interactive presentations led by content experts
Participatory and provocative discussions
Exclusive Password access to the Curriculum website
Act 48 Credit for pre- and post- session assignments
REGISTER BELOW TO RECEIVE YOUR ZOOM LINK, USER NAME AND PASSWORD TO RESOURCEWATER.ORG and pre- and post- session readings and activities
SIGN UP FOR ALL 4 AND RECEIVE A $100 AMAZON GIFT CARD!

Engage With Your World: Find New in the Familiar
2020-09-16 19:00 - 20:00 | PA
During this two-part program we’ll search for the surprising and refreshing in familiar places, and the new and urgent in ourselves.
About this Event
This is a two-part virtual event, taking place on September 16 & 23 from 7pm – 8pm via Zoom.
These past months, it may seem that our personal worlds have grown smaller, or crowded, and our own lives nudged off course. In this one-hour program we’ll search for the surprising and refreshing in familiar places, and the new and urgent in ourselves.
Author Beth Kephart will lead an illustrated two-part ZOOM presentation and conversation on September 16th & 23rd from 7 pm to 8 pm based on her books—Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River, Cloud Hopper, and the upcoming Wife|Daughter|Self: a memoir in essays.
She will inspire us to listen to/look for/document the sound of the rain, the roles we play in our lives, and the passions that keep us alive, among other imaginative prompts.
The second part of the event will be for creative sharing with the group.
Photo: Beth Kephart

Exploring Our Urban Watershed - River Days Event
2020-10-10 10:30 - 14:30 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Get to know the Schuylkill River from a brand new perspective!
In a program held outside the Fairmount Water Works, and on the water, participants will explore ways the native landscape and river waters served the Lenni Lenape people and continues to serve us today.

Complete a scavenger hunt of native plants used today in the City’s green infrastructure projects.
Imagining how the land may have looked when the Lenape occupied the land, create a mural of the landscape surrounding the Schuylkill River.
Examine life in a drop of river water

Following lunch (bring your own), we will hike along the Schuylkill Trail (about 1 mile) to the Walnut Street Dock where we will get in kayaks and onto the water!
Kayak tours include instructions on how to kayak, so beginners are welcome!
Program Schedule:

10:30am – Meet at the Fairmount Waterworks Interpretive Center
11:30am – Break for Lunch (bring your own)
12:00pm – Leave the Water Works for Guided Walk on Schuylkill Banks
1:00pm – Meet at Walnut Street Dock for Kayaking
2:30pm – Return to Walnut Street Dock and head back to the Water Works

The environmental education program is supported in part by a grant from the Alliance for Watershed Education and DEP.
Learn more about Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center.
Learn more about kayaking with Hidden River Outfitters.

Learn more about Schuylkill Banks.
Getting to the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center is easy!

SEPTA Bus Routes that stop close to FWWIC are Routes 49, 43, 38 and 32.
Ride your bike or an Indego bike – there is bike parking at Lloyd Hall and an Indego bike station at the base of the Art Museum steps.
Parking is available in the two Art Museum parking lots.

This free program is geared towards families with older children. Minimum age is 12. (This program is not for children under 12 years of age.)
Program administrators and participants will follow the City of Philadelphia’s health and safety guidelines for in-person gatherings, which includes small group size, social distancing, and wearing masks. Participants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire about recent exposure to COVID-19 and travel the morning of the program. Space is limited; therefore registration is required. All participants must sign a kayak waiver. Anyone under the age of 18 must also have a parent or guardian sign their kayak waiver. Download the kayak waiver here.

Schuylkill River Trail Green Stormwater Infrastructure Tour
2021-03-27 10:30 - 12:00, 2021-04-17 10:30 - 12:00, 2021-05-22 10:30 - 12:00 | Lloyd Hall, 1 Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Join us on a walk along the Schuylkill River Trail
Running alongside the Schuylkill River, the Schuylkill River Trail is a 2021 Readers’ Choice Award nominee for Best Riverwalk.
Join Fairmount Water Works educators Saturday March 27th to learn about our favorite ½ mile of the 72-mile multi-use path which currently runs from S. 56th St in Philadelphia to Landingville, a small borough in Schuylkill County.
We will start our walk at Lloyd Hall and follow the trail south to the North End Rain Garden just past the Paine’s Park Skatepark. Along the way we will point out examples of green stormwater infrastructure projects, part of Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters initiative to increase greenspace while improving the health of the City’s waterways.
Stroll past the National Historic Landmark buildings and gardens of the Fairmount Water Works and learn more about the collection of buildings that have served the City of Philadelphia for over 200 years telling the story of our connection with water, past and present.
Meet at Lloyd Hall Recreation Center (1 Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, PA 19130).
Total walking distance: about 1 mile.
Space is limited; 12-person maximum. Advance registration required.
In registering to attend this walking tour, you agree to the following:
• To wear a face mask that covers your nose and mouth at all times.
• To maintain six feet of distance between yourself and others not in your group.
• Participants will be asked to answer a set of questions regarding their COVID exposure the morning of the program. This can be done online.
Email stacey.heffernan@phila.gov, Environmental Education Planner, FWWIC, for more information.

Schuylkill Acts & Impacts 2021 Call for Applications (Deadline: May 14)
2021-05-14 16:00 | PA
Our Schuylkill Acts & Impacts program engages students from communities within the Schuylkill River Watershed in a hands-on service-learning experience.
Click here for details and application

Exploring Our Urban Watershed
2021-05-29 10:30 - 15:00, 2021-07-17 10:30 - 15:30, 2021-09-04 10:30 - 15:30 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
Join Fairmount Water Works and Schuylkill River Development Corporation in exploring the Schuylkill River in a program both on land and on the water!
We start at Fairmount Water Works and move through 3 hands-on activities: creating a mural of the historic Schuylkill River, examining microscopic life in a drop of river water and engaging in a native plant scavenger hunt.
After a brief lunch break (bring your own), we will hike down the Schuylkill River Trail (about 1 mile) to the Walnut Street Dock, where kayaks await. Hidden River Outfitters will give a brief orientation to paddling and then we’ll get into our kayaks and out on the river!
This program is geared towards families with youth ages 12 and up. (12 years is the minimum age allowed).
All participants must sign a kayak waiver, and participants aged 12-18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who will need to sign the minor’s kayak waiver.
A bus will be available at Walnut Street to take participants back to FWW instead of walking back, if desired.
Space is limited; 18-person maximum. Advance registration required. Minimum age is 12.
In registering for this program, you agree to the following:

Wear a face mask that covers your nose and mouth at all times.
Maintain six feet of distance between yourself and others not in your group.
Answer a set of questions regarding your COVID exposure the morning of the program. This can be done online.
Take a survey at the end of the program.

Email stacey.heffernan@phila.gov, Environmental Education Planner, FWWIC, for more information.

Watershed Wednesdays at the Fairmount Water Works
2021-07-28 10:00 - 11:30, 2021-08-04 10:00 - 11:30, 2021-08-11 10:00 - 11:30, 2021-08-18 10:00 - 11:30 | Fairmount Water Works, 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19130, United States
We will get to know the Schuylkill River by exploring various watershed topics through hands on activities, games and art projects.
Suitable for ages 5 and up. Children must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.
Advance registration required.
Sign up for one session or sign up for them all!
All sessions are 10am-11:30am.
Email educator stacey.heffernan@phila.gov for more information.
July 28 – Life in a Drop of River Water: Use our iPad with a microscope attachment to discover the microscopic life in a sample of water taken from the Schuylkill River. Try to identify the little creatures and create drawings to take home.
August 4 – FWW Version of Gyotaku: Long ago, fishermen in Japan created gyotaku prints to record their prized catches and create art. Bring a white t-shirt for your printed fish creation! Learn about the different species of fish that call the Schuylkill River home.
August 11 – Plant Life in the City: We will randomly select varied sites to identify and compare the variety of plant life in a grassy area. Compare plants in a manicured area to plants that grow in a less managed site. Learn how to mount a plant to make an herbarium specimen to take home.
August 18 – Silt Island Plants and Animals: Learn to use binoculars and participate in a scavenger hunt on the Boardwalk. Discover all the different birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles that live in our area. Bring a notebook from home and try your hand at nature journaling.
Photos will be taken of participants during this program for use by Fairmount Water Works and/or the Philadelphia Water Department. If you wish to opt out, please let us know before the program.
