Philadelphia Water Engages Student Artists
The Philadelphia Water Department, with support from the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, hosted an awards ceremony recently to honor the winners of its 2009 “Protect Philadelphia’s Hidden Streams” Art Contest.
More than 1,500 entries were received. The first-place drawings for each age category will be displayed on advertisements for one year inside SEPTA buses and trains, where they will be seen by millions of commuters. These, along with eight other award-winning entries, will be published in a calendar available free to the public inside the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center. Winning videos will also be highlighted in the calendar, in addition to being featured on YouTube (keyword search “Delaware Estuary”) and the Web sites of both the Philadelphia Water Department and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.
Other prizes awarded include framed certificates, a variety of art supplies, and gift cards.
Since 2000, this competition has helped to educate thousands of schoolchildren about pollution that occurs when rainwater flows across the land on its way into nearby waterways, washing pollutants like fertilizers, litter, and leaky motor oil into storm drains. This, in turn, can pollute Philadelphia’s hidden, underground streams, the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers, and the Delaware Bay.