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Story Update —
Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, PA — May 22, 2003
“It’s been one of the longest gestation periods in
history,” chuckled Gail Tomlinson, Director of the Fairmount
Water Works complex, when asked if entering the final phase of construction
on the massive restoration effort could be compared to the last moments
before a mother gives birth. “This is something that started
with a vision in the 80s, and here we are, two decades later and it’s
about to be born.”
The scheduled 2002 opening of the complex was sidelined when a fire
broke out on New Years Day of that year, but delays and added expenses
were but minor setbacks and never really threatened to damper the
enthusiasm of the Philadelphia Water Department’s determined
Water Works team. The construction crew is working on finishing touches
— “we’re down to paint and light fixtures,”
said Tomlinson yesterday, “and the Interpretive Center’s
exhibits are almost fabricated. They’ll be installed in July.”
Featuring everything from computer interactives to large panel displays,
from a large-scale multimedia production to classrooms and labs, the
Interpretive Center is expected to be an attraction that will entertain
visitors while inspiring them to learn. And Tomlinson promises it’ll
be open this fall.
“We just finalized the schedule,”
she said when we spoke. “The official ribbon-cutting will be
September 19, and the public opening will be on September 20 to coincide
with National Coast Day.” There’s a lesson in that, of
course, since the Schuylkill River flows into the Delaware River and
the Delaware empties into the Atlantic Ocean at the Delaware Bay.
For more information, keep tuned to this site, or to the Water
Works website.
Fairmount Water Works
By Dave Beste
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. |
See past topics of Between Cattails here!
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