D Kelly O’Day, PE Retired
I am a retired environmental engineer with a BS (University of Maryland) in Civil Engineering and MS (Drexel University) in Environmental Engineering. I worked as a professional engineer for 40 years in all phases of water quality, water supply and wastewater disposal in Philadelphia and Boston metropolitan areas. I am a retired professional engineer (PE) in Pennsylvania.
The USA has made great strides in improving the water quality of our rivers and streams since my early career days in 1967. As I watched and modestly participated in these improvements , I began to realize that the global environmental problems were also critically severe, with global warming presenting a threat even greater than water pollution.
In 2005 I started my 1st web site that focused on environmental trends. I started to study global warming to see for myself what the science indicated. Here is a link to my early global warming investigations (link).
In 2008 I switched web platforms and started my Climate Charts & Graphs blog to help interested citizen climate scientists learn about climate science and global warming using the R language. I shifted my focus to plastic pollution in 2012. this link shows my Climate Charts & Graphs blog in 2012 (link). My climate work is being carried on by Andy Long (Link).
As a proud E Mt Airy resident, I believe in thinking globally and acting locally. My wife and I are lucky to have found our dream house in a beautiful, friendly, tree lined Philadelphia neighborhood with wonderful people. We also have a neighborhood eyesore that we will work to beautify.
This blog will chronicle our efforts to help our neighborhood by fixing the eyesore, planting volunteer gardens, organizing neighbors, supporting Philadelphia’s green storm water initiative, and tackling plastic pollution and street trash.
I have been calculating the litter collected by our boom in the lower Herring Run in Baltimore City and get about 4-7 tons per year for 2012-14. That litter is mostly plastic bottles and Styrofoam and an almost limitless diversity of other things. The very high flows of water, trash and wood (even entire trees with root balls) are evidence of our slow degradation of these watershed. There is a lot to do. I have several technical reports if anyone is interested. Mike
I was reading your blog due to the heavy rain conditions last night. I have known of CSO’s since seeing a sign in the Wissahickon Valley for a CSO in Chestnut Hill near the Wissahickon High Level Sewer in 2008. I appreciate all of the information and photos. I do have one question about the whole process: Isn’t the best way to keep overflows from occurring by keeping the volume of stormwater down? In a good section of the northwest and lower northeast, where there are lawns for drainage, what is the harm in decoupling the soil pipes from the combined system? Wouldn’t it act as a rooftop garden would; that is, keeping water on-site? The only caveat to this would be that current city policy allows drainage of only 1″ of rainfall/ day (from Drew Brown of the PWD, who I have worked directly doing historical research for several years). I also have a through knowledge of underground streams, and I realize that most of the northeast’s CSO drain into the Delaware, where the Tacony Creek gets most of its drainage from its west.
Thanks for your reply.
Thanks for the note.
Your comment about “the best way to keep overflows from occurring” is to reduce stormwater flows is right on target.
Reducing our impervious cover (pavement, sidewalks, parking areas) is an important step in reducing runoff.
My particular concern is the trash and debris that get carried to pour creeks and rivers during storm events. Reducing the quantity of runoff will help, however, we will always have those few major storms of 2 – 3 inches of rain that will carry trash from the land to the creeks. We must reduce ur plastic litter to prevent it from getting to our creeks during major storm events.
Kelly, the board of the Devon Village Homeowners Association has been reading your work on the wall history with great interest. We have some current concerns about the wall and would like to speak with you. Thanks!
Suzanne Noll
I’d be happy to talk to the Association. You can email me … dkod*at*comcast.net Note the *at* needs to be adjsuted to get valid email address.