Utilzing rain barrels, rain gardens, dry wells, native plants, and green roofs to capture rain water on your residential property.  Learn more by viewing this video

Drip goes the kitchen faucet. Plop goes the bathroom shower. Trickle goes the toilet tank.

It’s annoying, but you’ve learned to live with it.

Then the water bill arrives. Talk about sticker shock. It turns out those little drips, plops and trickles are costing you money. Which means you need to do something about it.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/839877_Slow-leaks-can-drain-your-wallet.html#ixzz2RPphzNe0

We’re Polluting our Water.

When it rains, water flows from rooftops, streets, sidewalks and parking lots into our sewer system.  Along the way, it picks up all kinds of pollutants.  Most of the time, the City can clean this polluted water at its treatment plant.  But during heavy storms, the amount of water is too much for the plant to handle, allowing about 750 million gallons of polluted water to flow into the Conestoga River each year.

What’s the Cheapest Way to Solve the Problem ?

Come to a meeting with Mayor Gray and city officials in your neighborhood.

March 28 – Hand Middle School
April 2 – Lancaster Rec Center – Senior Center off parking lot at Brandon Park
April 10 – Reynolds Middle School
April 16 – McCaskey East High School
May 2 – Community United Methodist Church – Tennyson Drive

All meetings start at 7pm

Over the course of the next year more green ‘vegetative’ roofs will be installed throughout Lancaster City.  Over the past month three green roofs were installed on City owned properties including Fire Station #3 and the Dewatering Building at the Waste Water Treatment Plant, which is pictured below.

Enhancements include a kids pool at Rodney Park and basketball court at Crystal Park, these amenities along with open green space and kid play areas are much needed.  In addition, green infrastructure improvements make these model project for the future of Lancaster City.  For more information and photos click here.

Lancaster City needs to save 750 million gallons of water annually from entering its combined sewer system – that’s the system that collects wastewater from your home as well as rainwater.  We need to SAVE IT! to preserve clean drinking water, avoid costly fines and continue to build a healthy, vibrant community.

Construction is underway at the intersection of E Walnut and N Plum Streets.  In addition to changing the traffic patterns to make it safer for motorists and pedestrians the City is transforming this intersection into the largest green streets project to date in the City.  To learn more about this project Click here.

A new video featuring the City of Lancaster’s Mayor Rick Gray and Director of Public Works Charlotte Katzenmoyer speaking to the emerging Green Infrastructure strategy the City is undertaking to reduce stormwater overflows and continue to build a healthy, vibrant community.

The City of Lancaster is featured in the latest edition of the Chesapeake Bay Journal.  To read the entire article click here.

From the rooftop of the Tellus 360 shop in Downtown Lancaster, Charlotte Katzenmoyer can see the Victorian shops and homes that have long made the city a tourist stop on the way to Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

But the most interesting part of the view is what’s below her feet. Katzenmoyer, the city’s public works director, is standing on a mix of sprouting green plants, compost and stone – a 9,000-square-foot green roof. And as large as it is, the roof over the furniture and clothing shop on King Street is not even the city’s largest. That honor belongs to the National Novelty Brush Co., a company founded more than 50 years ago.

Since the city began implementing its green infrastructure plan in 2011, it has helped build nine green roofs. Katzenmoyer has overseen the repaving of one alley with porous pavement – a project she says will capture an additional 200,000 to 300,000 gallons of stormwater that would otherwise be headed for the Conestoga River.

To read the entire article by Rona Kobell in the Chesapeake Bay Journal click here.