Vote on artwork for PWD rain barrel wraps
The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) is giving its rain barrels a makeover and it wants our help picking the new designs.
Students from Laura W. Waring School and YESPHilly worked wtih Mural Arts Program artists and staffers from the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center to create artwork to be used as a decorative skin for PWD’s rain barrels. Three winning designs will be shrinkwrapped around PWD’s barrels. (Think South Street’s BigBelly cans.)
As part of its stormwater management work PWD helps with property owners install rain barrels to collect runoff from building downspouts (diverting rainwater from the city’s overloaded combined stormwater-sewer system) for use later watering plants. Typically these barrels are plain blue or tan, but they could soon wear a artsy new coat, which will help call attention to this stormwater management tactic and add a bit of whimsy to city streets.
Mt. Airy Business Improvement District and Mt. Airy Arts Garage teamed up to festively paint rain barrels for Germantown Avenue properties last year, and it appears that the decorated approach may be taking off.
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Eyes on the Street
Eyes on the Street brings new ideas and fresh voices into the conversation about Philadelphia’s changing cityscape.
