The damaging effects of extreme weather have prompted Drexel, the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University to establish the Academic Network to Support Urban Water Resilience, a community-focused research network dedicated to studying climate change.
With generous support from the William Penn Foundation, the network’s water management research centers at each institution will collaborate with community-based organizations as they devise strategies to enhance climate resilience.
“Philadelphia’s vulnerability to the extreme effects of climate change has become evident in recent years,” says Franco Montalto, a professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering and a network leader. “Tropical Storm Isaias inundated the Eastwick neighborhood in 2020; Hurricane Ida in 2021 flooded several neighborhoods across the city, damaged infrastructure and completely submerged the Vine Street Expressway. It’s incumbent upon the water management research community at our city’s leading universities to work with residents to address these challenges and develop solutions specific to their communities.”
Led by Drexel’s Environmental Collaboratory, the network includes Drexel’s Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Penn’s Water Center and Villanova’s Center for Resilient Water Systems. The network will solicit project proposals from community groups seeking expert assistance to gather data, monitor conditions, or develop resilience plans, while conferring with representatives from the Philadelphia Water Department and the Office of Sustainability and Resilient Communities Stormwater Initiative.
Network members will turn the proposals into research modules that researchers and students at each of the universities will approach as capstone projects during the term or academic year.
All projects will focus on water management challenges facing the community: water quality improvement, land use, tree canopy/vegetation cover, water infrastructure and flood management, with timelines ranging from 10 weeks to more than a year.