Algae once covered so much of the Manayunk Canal that it was hard to see the water. Now striped bass and shad are back in the two-mile waterway.
The Philadelphia Water Department’s Flat Rock Dam project restored a steady flow from the Schuylkill River into the canal in 2025. Water testing since the reconnection has shown more stable levels of dissolved oxygen, which fish need to survive.
Kelly Anderson is looking at what that change could mean farther downstream. Her team wants to know whether adjusting the flow through the canal can improve water quality at the Queen Lane drinking water intake.
That’s part of the job for source water specialists: work with engineers to change what happens upstream, then measure whether it makes a difference where the city draws its drinking water.
Episode at https://www.waterloop.org/protecting-philadelphias-source-water-day-in-the-life-1/
The Day In The Life series is made possible by Platinum sponsor Pentair
Gold sponsors Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), and Water Environment Federation.
Silver sponsors American Water Works Association, Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), Human Capital Solutions, Inc., and Vaughan Company Inc.
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