|
|
|
Story Update —
The Philadelphia Water Department will begin selective previews of
parts of the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center later this
year, although the official opening is now set for the Spring, 2003.
The Interpretive Center staff will use the time before then to "shake
out" the exhibits with visiting classes and groups, and to recruit
and train volunteers who will help run the Interpretive Center programs.
The Center will then have a formal public opening with a series of
exciting events in the Spring of 2003. Indeed, the New Year's Day
fire did somewhat slow the momentum for several openings (restaurant,
deck festivals and Interpretive Center) planned for this year at the
site. Everything is still on track, just pushed back by several months.
am swept away as my guide, Ed Grusheski, quickly moves from room to
room in the underground of the Fairmount Water Works. His arms outstretched
and animated, he tells me in a dynamic fashion the process that took
place here only a century ago. It is a complicated system of boilers
and machines that leaves me dizzy, but intrigued.
he Fairmount Water Works hasn't been operational since 1909, due to
an increase of pollutants into the Schuylkill River. But it is now
beginning to see new life thanks to a $26 million fund raising
campaign. The restoration of the Fairmount Water Works, which has
laid dormant for the better part of three decades, will hopefully
bring tourism back to the home of the nation's first water utility.
[photo
gallery 1]
he imminent future of the Fairmount Water Works, however, does not
lie in supplying water to the Philadelphia region, but in tourism
and education. Besides a restaurant and beautiful views of the river
from a series of balconies and the Classically styled Great Pavilion,
one of the main attractions will be the Interpretive Center. Scheduled
to open on Earth Day 2002, the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive
Center will offer educational exhibits to explain to people that their
actions have a direct impact on nature, specifically the Schuylkill
River. The exhibits will include a rebuilt water wheel, a theater
(which will be viewed much like a planetarium), an interactive water
treatment exhibit and an exhibit which shows the path of water once
a sink is turned on or a toilet is flushed.
[photo
gallery 2]
his is a restoration project that seemed unimaginable to many just
a few years ago. The polluting of the Schuylkill by coal mines; slaughterhouses,
ironworks, and several other industrial companies converted a once
scenic riverfront into a vile smelling, vacant property. Over the
years pollutants in the Schuylkill have been greatly reduced and the
river is the healthiest it has been in years. Confidence in a cleaner
river can be found in the arrival of eleven new varieties of fish
in 1988 and that number escalating to forty by 1998.
 ith
the resurgence of a healthy Schuylkill River and the restoration of
the Fairmount Water Works the city of Philadelphia has offered itself
a beautiful landscape, which can be both enjoyed and learned from.
Text and photography by: Dave Beste |
See past topics of Between Cattails here!
|
|
|
