Upper Rock Creek Trash Photo Survey

Upper Rock Creek is a tributary of the Tookany Creek that carries stream  flow from the Creek headwaters, including Cedarbrook Plaza and  Cheltenham Mall parking lots and  businesses along W Cheltenham Ave and Ogontz Ave.  During rain storm events,  stormwater runoff carries parking lot and street litter and debris into the Upper Rock Creek.

Some of this stream trash is deposited along the Upper Rock Creek bed and banks; the rest is carried downstream to the Tookany, Tacony and Frankford Creeks, the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is a Google Map that shows the Upper Rock Creek survey limits as well as the entire Tookany Creek , and its tributaries, including  Rock Creek, Baeder Creek and Jenkintown Creek.

This map shows the photo locations for the Cedarbrook Plaza and Cheltenham Mall parking lot litter photo survey and limited survey of stream trash in the Upper Rock Creek.

The following 5 photos show litter and debris around the Cedarbrook Plaza, these photos were taken on 1/14/13.

This next photo shows a number of tires jsut outside the Cedarbrook Plaza fence.

This next photo shows how poor dumpster housekeeping can generate a litter problem.

This next photo,taken just to the east of the previous photo, shows a major accumulation of litter caused by a combination of parking lot litter carried to the fence by wind and runoff and the poor dumpster housekeeping in the previous photo.

This final Cedarbrook Plaza litter photo shows a major build-up just outside the Plaza fence line on the eastern side of the property.

The next 5 of photos show parking lot litter at the Cheltenham Mall, near the Ogontz Ave entrance to the Mall. These photos were taken on 1/31/13.

This 1st Cheltenham Mall parking lot photo shows litter caught in a parking lot island.

This next photo shows accumulated parking lot litter caught by the Mall fence.

This next photo shows trash buil-up just outside the Mall fence.

The next 2 photos show litter/ trash accumulated over Parking Lot storm drain inlet grates.

Where does the Cedarbrook Plaza and Cheltenham Mall parking lot litter go? Some of it surely makes its way to the Upper Rock Creek. Access to the Upper Rock Creek for photography the Creek is limited. The following 3 photos give a sense for the stream trash conditions adjacent to the Cheltenham Mall.

These photos are available in a downloadable PDF file here.Upper_Rock_Creek_Trash_Photo_Survey