third is to collect and recycle biosolids into clean, beneficial soil-like compost. biosolids are the solid materials left over from the wastewater treatment process, including plant material, human waste, food put down the garbage disposal and detergents. the biosolids recycling center cleans, treats and transforms these materials into a nutrient-rich compost. source water protection program the source water protection program includes partnerships that traverse city boundaries. philadelphia water began this program in 1999 when the office of watersheds was created. the delaware and schuylkill rivers each make up about half of the philadelphia area's drinking water supply, and philadelphia water delivers about 250 million gallons of this drinking water to customers on a daily basis through its treatment plants. this program implements the monitoring of these rivers' water quality conditions, major sources of contamination, and flow patterns. philadelphia lists climate change, forest clearing and development, stormwater runoff, agricultural runoff, spills and accidents, treated wastewater effluent, pharmaceuticals, pollution from geese and wildlife, and improper disposal of waste and trash as the program's primary concerns related to maintaining high quality drinking water. despite being criticized for the low quality of its drinking water in 2011, the department has won numerous awards for its devotion to drinking water quality. delaware valley early warning system the early warning system was created in order to integrate real time water quality monitoring with the use of river gauges and water quality sensors that analyze and provide data to craft models that can project the downstream spread and estimated arrival of pollution caused by spills, accidents, and floods. this system assists experts in planning responses to pollution and sends notifications via telephone and email to alert safety officials when these spills have occurred. the warning system was created as a part of the source water protection program. it runs from the delaware water gap to wilmington, delaware, and sounds alarms when events such as spills or flooding occur. in 2014, the system added a "tidal spill trajectory animation." this provides an enhanced analysis of tidal flow influences on pollution spills in the delaware valley, improving response planning. philadelphia water received the 2015 governor's award for environmental excellence in pennsylvania by the pennsylvania environmental council (pec) for the aforementioned "delaware valley early warning system – tidal spill trajectory tool." this award was given to the department for the innovation the system showed as well as the public safety benefits this customized web-based system presented, as it was specially made to safeguard water quality for millions of people in the greater philadelphia area. raincheck raincheck is a program philadelphia water employs to help residents capture stormwater and prevent it from causing sewer overflows. the pennsylvania horticultural society works in collaboration with the philadelphia water on this project. there are four different property tools available through this program that the department helps property owners install. downspout planters allow property owners to add greenery to their homes and recycle their spout water. rain barrels allow owners to collect gray water for other purposes. masonry projects allow owners to replace their impermeable pavement with surfaces that allow stormwater to soak back into the ground. finally, rain gardens form shallow depressions that are designed to absorb water that runs directly off of roofs, and can prevent hundreds of gallons of water per year from entering the city's sewer systems. these projects are intended to help philadelphians contribute to their city- by filtering stormwater runoff that would otherwise end up polluting streams and rivers. migratory fish passage restoration and monitoring philadelphia's waterways were historically home to spawning populations of american shad and several other species of anadromous fish. the american eel, a catadromous fish was also noted to traverse philadelphia's waters. there are numerous native fish species within the delaware estuary and philadelphia's freshwater tributaries. however, philadelphia water focuses a majority of its monitoring efforts on american shad. the department pioneered the installation of the fairmount dam fishway in the schuylkill river in 2008. the fishway allows shad to migrate up the schuylkill river to spawn and has led to more than 3,000 fish passing through the ladder, according to a report by the u.s. army corps of engineers. a video recording system was installed in the passage to allow the department to keep track of the number of fish passing through. in an established partnership with the pennsylvania fish and boat commission, philadelphia water tracks the progress of native migratory fish populations. aquatic biologists utilize electrofishing equipment to estimate the number of fish in the rivers. they also collect anadromous fish and donate a few to biologists from the pfbc, who check the fish for hatchery tags that mark fish released from hatcheries and distinguish them from fish born in the wild. having a ratio of hatchery-raised fish to natural fish allows the department to determine if the fish population is increasing of its own accord or because of hatcheries. stormwater grants the stormwater grants program launched in 2012, as a combined effort of philadelphia water and the philadelphia industrial development corporation (pidc). the mission of the grants program is to reduce the price of installing green infrastructure for qualified non-residential philadelphia water customers and contractors and encourage the installation of stormwater management practices that reduce stormwater's entrance into city sewers and surrounding waterways. the two types of programs offered are stormwater management incentives program (smip) and the greened acre retrofit program (garp). stormwater management incentives program this grant program is designed for large, commercial properties with lots of impervious surfaces that create stormwater runoff in high volumes, burdening the city's sewer system. it provides them with funds to revamp their properties to better practice green stormwater management. the property owner or tenant with permission from the property owner must apply for this grant. the most competitive applications typically keep grant requests to $100,000 or less per impervious acre. greened acre retrofit program this grant program greened acre retrofit program (garp) provides funds that help to offset the cost of stormwater projects built by contractors across properties in philadelphia's combined sewer area. garp funding is typically awarded to companies or project aggregators with plans to build a stormwater management plan on properties in philadelphia's combined sewer service area that hover around or above 10 acres in project size. the most competitive applications for these grants request around $90,000 or less per impervious acre. water mains the first water mains in philadelphia were installed in the 1800s. philadelphia water currently maintains 3,200 miles of water mains that can be classified into three distinct sections of mains: transmission mains, distribution mains, and service mains. transmission mains are larger water mains that move vast amounts of water across philadelphia between pump stations and reservoirs. they are typically more than 16 inches in diameter. distribution mains, by comparison, are smaller than 16 inches in diameter and are used to carry water from transmission mains to customer service connections. service connections are the individual connections owned by the property owner that connect to distribution mains and channel water into a building or house. water main breaks a water main break happens when a hole or crack develops in a main and causes it to rupture. they typically result from the external corrosion of the pipe. the water typically finds its way to the surface due to the extreme amount of pressure the water is under. millions of gallons of water can flow from a single break. in order to get the break under control, the water is shut off and the section of pipe that ruptured is replaced. philadelphia tracks the number of water main breaks that occur in 1,000 miles of main. the company uses a five-year moving average to smooth out the effect of weather variations. based on historical information dating back to 1930, the average for 2001 was 212 breaks for every 1,000 miles of main– the lowest total over 45 years and better than the national average of 240–270 breaks per 1,000 miles. green initiatives philadelphia water department developed some green initiatives, including "biogas cogeneration," "green city, clean waters," and "green stormwater infrastructure." biogas cogeneration the technology for biogas cogeneration has been endorsed by the u.s. environmental protection agency and allows for electricity and heat to be produced by the methane gas given off during sewage treatment. in december 2011, in alignment with the city's greenworks philadelphia initiative, philadelphia water signed an agreement to incorporate biogas cogeneration into their northeast water pollution control plant, as one of the first adopters in the nation of this system. the project cost $47.5 million and was financed by bank of america, the company which technically owns the facility though the city is leasing it for 16 years. in order to complete the project the city partnered with ameresco inc., a company based in massachusetts that specializes in energy efficiency and infrastructure upgrades for north american facilities. the plant's renovations were completed in 2014. currently, the northeast water pollution control plant is able to meet 85% of its electrical requirements for plant operations using biogas cogeneration. in this process, sludge digesters at the plant fuel the decomposition of organic materials to produce biogas by removing water vapor, hydrogen sulfide, and siloxane gas. the process captures more than 80 percent of all of the available energy for heat and electricity and ultimately results in about 43 million kwh of electricity per year. the plant has been praised for its on-site production of electricity from waste, which allows for the avoidance of the electricity losses that would otherwise take place from transmission. green city, clean waters green city, clean waters is a 25-year plan to protect and enhance watersheds through stormwater management and green stormwater infrastructure (gsi). philadelphia water developed green city, clean waters to confront environmental, demographic and financial challenges. green city, clean waters confronts a number of challenges philadelphia faces with aging infrastructure and the impact of climate change on human health but the program's driving factor is the reduction of combined sewer overflows (csos). by capturing and infiltrating stormwater using green stormwater infrastructure such as rain gardens, swales, and stormwater tree trenches the system works to mitigate flooding and erosion in philadelphia's rivers and streams. on october 21, 2014, the green city, clean waters program was awarded the american planning association (apa) pennsylvania chapter's planning excellence award in implementation. the following year on march 31, 2015, green city, clean waters won the apa national planning excellence award for implementation. the award recognized the positive changes that have taken place in the city as a result of the program's planning efforts. green city, clean waters completed 113 projects that implemented green stormwater infrastructure in the time leading up to this award and were in the process of designing 187 more. certain studies have shown that green infrastructure may significantly reduce crime in areas they are implemented over time. 'the impact of green stormwater infrastructure installation on surrounding health and safety' was published in the american journal of public health in march 2015. the 12-year study showed a significant correlation between the drop in crime rates in certain areas and the implementation of green stormwater infrastructure. green stormwater infrastructure (gsi) one of the environmentally-friendly initiatives of philadelphia water is incorporating green stormwater infrastructure around the city as a part of its green city, clean waters initiative. a picture summary of how cso works on april 12, 2012, the epa joined the mayor of philadelphia, mayor michael nutter, to announce a federal endorsement of philadelphia water's plan to use gsi toward its goal of becoming america's greenest city. more than a hundred years ago, philadelphia built its sewers so that sewage, stormwater runoff, and gray water would all flow underground into the same pipe. when a high level of water threatened the pipes' integrity, they structured these pipes to overflow into the schuylkill and delaware rivers in an event called a combined sewer overflow (cso). in these circumstances, the sewage content in these pipes and pollution from the streets jeopardizes the cleanliness of these rivers. the department has been focusing on how to use green infrastructure that stores stormwater and releases it into the sewers gradually in order to minimize these events. philadelphia water aims to protect the watershed with green stormwater infrastructure and create a more environmentally