Philadelphians were alerted last month to possible industrial pollutants spilling over the Bartram’s Mile Trail at Bartram’s Garden. Authorities have assured everyone that there are few to no environmental or health impacts, but lingering concerns about their response remain. It should be noted that Bartram’s Garden is fully open and they’ve taken precautions to ensure visitor safety and prevent contact with the nearby pollution discussed in this post.

It was a visitor who eventually alerted local officials and Bartram’s Garden about the situation in July, although the odd green substance, later determined to be chromium, was first seen in April. It is not clear why there was such a reporting delay or why the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (PADEP) did not notify potentially affected parties about the possibly hazardous liquid.  Once PADEP determined that the substance was not a direct threat to the drinking water supply because the location was well downstream of the drinking water intakes, it was deemed a non-threat overall and no further notifications were warranted. However, although it was not a drinking water issue, and although it is considered low risk to aquatic environments, contact with chromium can pose health concerns.  Chromium is considered a mutagen by the EPA. Some forms of the metal present a cancer risk after prolonged inhalation or ingestion, and acute effects involve skin damage and allergic reactions.  PADEP acknowledged that the recent Bartram’s sampling found 4 of 11 soil samples exceeded their standard.  While, again, there was no hazard to drinking water, we think these potential exposures were serious enough to merit a swifter public notice on the part of PADEP.

PADEP also concluded that although the substance was a potential pollutant and presented an ongoing issue, it did not constitute an environmental violation. Both the Philadelphia Water Department and the Philadelphia Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit determined there was no contaminated runoff – and it is indeed possible that the ooze was coming from the subsurface. The entire area is underlain by highly porous sand and gravel, so contaminated liquids could move easily through the ground. Still, the trail walker observed some overland flow at this point and there is likely some subsurface contact with river water. In both instances it is safe to say the substance is getting into the river whether it’s a clear regulatory violation or not.

What’s concerning is the lack of regulatory curiosity as to where this green ooze is coming from. Chromium is a byproduct of steel manufacturing and this land area adjacent to Bartram’s Garden has a long history of industrial use, and specifically, steel production. The Ryerson company manufactured steel nearby and was in operation for at least half a century. A 1980 study by the USGS found a tiny percentage of groundwater samples collected in Philadelphia exceeded the EPA standard for chromium and these concentrations were attributed to industrial processes.  While the 1980 USGS study did not find a widespread problem in Philadelphia, another Ryerson steel plant in Oregon was cited by the EPA as a contributor to a Superfund site.  ALL samples taken as part of that environmental study contained chromium.

We believe the likely source of the chromium at Bartram’s Garden is the old steel plant one quarter of a mile away. If that is the source of the chromium, we wonder how widespread this contamination is, and we believe it warrants a broader investigation prior to adaptive reuse at this site. At a minimum, Bartram’s Garden and Southwest Philadelphia residents should be provided detailed information from the state about the risks to park visitors, nearby neighbors, and the general public.

For further information about the incident and conditions on the ground, Bartram’s Garden has an informative webpage.

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The funds awarded to our partner Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) will spur the assessment and remediation of the riverfront site, which spans slightly less than an acre and is currently contaminated with lead and and semi-volatile organic compounds after decades of industrial use. Once the land has been remediated, plans will advance for major new riverfront developments: the Garden’s new Field Station & Welcome Center, complete with a realignment of the Bartram’s Mile Trail to the newly accessible riverfront, and a portion of PIDC’s Lower Schuylkill Biotech Campus.

Speaking at the event, Executive Director Maitreyi Roy noted, “Safe and clean land opens up opportunities for new businesses, green spaces, and community projects . . . . Our neighborhood will thrive, not just survive. The powerful message is that no community should bear the brunt of environmental degradation and that everyone deserves to live in a safe and healthy environment.”

Learn more about the event and the EPA’s national brownfield remediation program in recent news coverage from the Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY, the Guardian, and Delaware Currents.

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As we prepare for the exciting return of public River Programs such as Free Fishing and Free Boating, it’s also time to dust off our water sampling equipment and start collecting weekly water samples once again. As you’re reading this, you might be wondering, “Wait, Bartram’s monitors water quality?” Since 2018, our staff, interns, and volunteers have been conducting weekly sampling of the river water at our public dock to assess E.coli bacterial levels and other parameters in the river!

The Tidal Schuylkill is enjoyed by thousands of visitors who participate in free river programs each season at the Bartram’s Garden Community Boathouse. We and our non-human friends, like the 40 species of fish that thrive in the river today, enjoy our river because of the vast improvement in water quality spurred by the closing of coal plants and factories at the end of the 20th century. However, this section of the river still experiences a frequent source of pollution that affects the safety of close contact with the water.

The lower, tidal portion of the Schuylkill River (between Fairmount Dam and Fort Mifflin) is lined with 40 combined sewer outfalls (CSOs) that can discharge untreated municipal sewage and stormwater into the river when it rains. This context cannot be ignored in our efforts to offer free river activities like boating and fishing. The combined sewer system that serves much of Philadelphia is designed to handle both wastewater and stormwater in the same pipe, but when there’s heavy rainfall or snowmelt, the sewer pipes or treatment plants may not be able to handle the increased flow. In such cases, the EPA allows Philadelphia, along with other cities with combined sewer systems, to discharge excess wastewater into nearby water bodies to prevent safety issues caused by flooding.^[1] The Philadelphia Water Department provides online tools called Philly RiverCast and CSOcast, to help us know if the water is safe for recreational activities. However, Philly RiverCast is based on conditions in the Schuylkill above Fairmount Dam, outside the influence of the CSOs we deal with on the lower portion of the river, where Bartram’s Garden is located.^[2]

Our water sampling efforts supplement the data that the Water Department collects and are also specific to our little stretch of the Schuylkill River. This is an essential part of our commitment to ensuring the health and safety of our community. We focus our sampling efforts on E.coli bacteria levels because this is the specific bacteria that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use to define water quality standards for activities such as boating. We also host an EnviroDIY Mayfly monitoring station in the river near our dock that measures and records physical and chemical properties of the water. Sampling the water over time allows us to observe patterns and look out for what environmental factors might correlate with high bacterial counts. We’ve learned that bacteria levels are variable, meaning they are affected by so many factors that we cannot predict them based on one thing.

However, the data collected over time combined with rainfall records have informed our protocol of canceling our Free Saturday Boating program in the event of at least 0.25 inches of rainfall within the previous 24 hours. This means that even on a beautiful, sunny Saturday, we sometimes have to cancel due to rain on Friday. On the day of a scheduled program, you can always check the calendar at bartramsgarden.org or look on our Facebook or Instagram page for cancellation announcements, which are posted at least two hours before the start time, or call the Welcome Center at (215) 729-5281.

In addition to evaluating our own policies, we also advocate for the Department of Environmental Protection to collect more water quality data and reassess recreational use assessments of the Schuylkill River. We look forward to a future where we’ll be talking about the huge improvements in water quality as a result of City investment in traditional and green infrastructure and CSO reductions.

You can learn more about our water quality monitoring and advocacy here! 

^[1] Recreation in Philadelphia’s Waterways: What to Know – Philadelphia Water Department

^[2]  Philly RiverCast

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TrailOff is a new, cutting-edge app featuring 10 original audio dramas, totally free-to-download, that unfold on  Circuit Trails across the Philadelphia region. This audio storytelling app puts YOU in the center of the drama! Get out onto a trail and let a 360° world swirl around you. Literally step into the shoes of characters as they run from monsters, uncover clues to mysteries or adventure into unknown secrets from the past in stories synced to you in real-time!

Created by Swim Pony and the PA Environmental Council (PEC), this FREE project aims to diversify the stories we imagine when we think about nature. TrailOff uses your phone’s technology to transport you into an augmented reality world that syncs to your movements as you walk a trail. Each story is uniquely crafted for its site, written by incredible local authors who will explore the way you think about
taking a walk outside. This is NOT your grandma’s nature trail!

This structured 1-mile walk will follow the new Afrofuturist audio drama Chronicles Of Asylum by Philadelphia author and artist Li Sumpter of MythMediaStudios, available for free download through TrailOff:

Set in future Philadelphia circa 2045 on the eve of a major cosmic event, Chronicles of Asylum follows savvy young journalist Liliquoi Brown as she investigates an otherworldly urban myth in hopes of finding two missing visitors to a refugee camp on the Schuylkill River. Exploring survival and sacrifice, home and exile, humanity’s fate and hope for the future, Chronicles follows the path of this unexpected trailblazer.

The story walk will take approximately one hour but can accommodate participants moving at a slower pace.

How To Use

To use TrailOff download the app to your phone, explore the 10 stories, and pick a trail you want to try. In the app, you can download a story and get directions to the trail by car or public transport. Once you arrive hit “Begin” and start walking! During your story, follow the path and directions from the app. If you accidentally stray from the path, a sound will let you know you’ve gone off route. The story will follow YOUR pace, so take as long as you like to explore. If you need to leave, you can always return and pick up where you left off.

After finishing a trail, you’ll even get some bonus features to keep you busy on the walk back!

TrailOff Guided AfroFuturist Story Walk at Bartram’s Garden

You can try a guided TrailOff Walk at Bartram’s Garden during our first Family Outdoor Movie Night of the summer on Friday, June 24, 6-7 pm. This structured 1-mile walk will follow the new Afrofuturist audio drama Chronicles Of Asylum by Philadelphia author and artist Li Sumpter of MythMediaStudios, available for free download now.

   Set in future Philadelphia circa 2045 on the eve of a major cosmic event, Chronicles of 

                                                    Asylum follows savvy young journalist Liliquoi Brown as she investigates an otherworldly

urban myth in hopes of finding two missing visitors to a refugee camp on the Schuylkill River.

Exploring survival and sacrifice, home and exile, humanity’s fate and hope for the future,

                                                    Chronicles follows the path of this unexpected trailblazer.

The story walk will take approximately one hour but can accommodate participants moving at a slower pace, and will finish with a Q&A with the author. Register for this event here.

To learn more about TrailOff, visit its website.

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Aqua Marooned! is a card game created by Philly-based immersive experience company Swim Pony that encourages humor and emotional connection with the flora and fauna of the Lenapehoking region. Bartram’s Garden is one of 20 different regional environmental centers where it premiered at this spring; each location is connected to the Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River (AWE) and has its own unique, location-specific card deck.

How to Play

Though Aqua Marooned! takes inspiration from traditional party games like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity, this card game isn’t one meant to be played sitting at a table indoors.  The game’s beautifully-illustrated cards cast players in groups of three or more as extraterrestrial explorers sent to explore earth’s mysterious “watersphere”, i.e. at your participating AWE nature center, park, or wildlife refuge.

Using vibrant pictures of plants, animals, and the environment, players are sent on a “mission” that playfully invites players to call on their powers of observation, inventiveness, or wit. Card challenges include things that ask players to get creative (Find a dead thing and give it a heartfelt eulogy. Most heartfelt wins.), use their bodies (Race to the nearest body of water), and reflect on the natural world (Define what “nature” is and is not). Though suitable for ages 12 and up, the game is aimed specifically at teens and adults.

Aqua Marooned!’s cards are designed especially for the 23 Centers in the AWE Alliance but can also be played anywhere one finds the outdoors. In addition to the core deck of cards, 20 participating AWE sites have developed expansion decks featuring additional missions that can be folded into the basic game with content unique to their sites. Swim Pony has also developed a super-sized Lenape expansion deck, created in collaboration with a circle of local Lenape advisors, to give players an opportunity to delve into the Indigenous perspectives on the land as well. For more information about where to find the game or the outreach events programmed for this fall visit the Lenapehoking~Watershed website, Facebook, or  Instagram for dates, times, and locations.

Aqua Marooned! at Bartram’s Garden

Visit the Garden’s Welcome Center, open every day 9AM-4PM, to grab your FREE Bartram’s Garden Aqua Marooned! deck and start your journey. Swim Pony will also be at the first 2022 Family Outdoor Movie Night at the Garden on Friday, June 24, 2022, with decks and more information about the game.

Aqua Marooned! was conceived by Adrienne Mackey, founder and artistic director of Swim Pony, an experience design company that develops innovative, immersive experiences of play. During the course of its three-year development, the company collaborated with illustrator/graphic designers Meg Lemieur and Bri Barton, co-writer Brad Wrenn, representatives from 19 different AWE Centers, and a Lenni-Lenape Advisory Circle led by Trinity Norwood, Project Advisor for the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation. 

More about Lenapehoking~Watershed Art Project: The L~W Art Project is a wide-ranging, multifaceted art project that wants to introduce Lenapehoking residents to their watershed. A program of the Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River (AWE), this initiative winds its way through the landscapes and waterways of the Delaware River Watershed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Aqua Marooned! is one of two innovative and completely unique artist-driven projects activating the AWE environmental education centers as part of Lenapehoking~Watershed. The other is Water Spirit, a series of plant-based sculptures by Sarah Kavage that serve as focal points for events and community gatherings. The name, “Lenapehoking~Watershed, a place for water, art and culture” was chosen after consulting with citizens of our local Lenni Lenape Nations. “Lenapehoking” is a place name that means “the land of the Lenape people.” Foremost, as this is an initiative about the land and the water, the L~W team acknowledges Indigenous cultures’ environmental stewardship as critical. Lenapehoking~Watershed offers multiple opportunities for inspiration, refreshment, and learning. Encouraging others to discover new things, meet new people at outdoor cultural gatherings, and enjoy solitary meditations on art and nature.

Lead support for the Lenapehoking~Watershed is provided by the William Penn Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Barra Foundation, the Delaware Division for the Arts, the Joseph Robert Foundation, and the Velocity Fund. 

About Alliance for Watershed Education: The Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River is a regional initiative of twenty-three partnering environmental education centers that is funded and supported by the William Penn Foundation. Each of these centers is located along the Circuit Trail or a major connecting trail, and on waterways throughout the Delaware River Watershed in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Through joint programming like the annual River Days events, and shared best practices, the centers aim to increase their collective impact within the watershed and its communities. 

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Remains of Bartram’s Wharf, ca.1840s

Says Joel, “Those timbers are the remains of a wharf—most likely a steamboat wharf constructed around 1840, during the Carr generation at the Garden. That shows up as ‘Carr’s Wharf’ on maps of the 1840s and 1850s. There used to be more preserved timber, probably two or three additional layers of timber, and great deal of inner-gravel fill has washed away in recent years.”

Another part of the story is about a boathouse. Joel continues, “Around 1890, just before the park at Bartram’s Garden was first opened, a public boathouse was built adjacent to that wharf. The City of Philadelphia leased public-rental boathouses at various locations along the Schuylkill. One was built at Bartram’s Garden, and we have two of three photos showing part of the building. It operated renting out small rowboats for a year or two, but then the business seems to have folded. Probably the river was too polluted and/or there were not enough customers to make it a successful business. The boathouse was demolished sometime after 1900 and there is no trace of the building now.”

“There was probably a long history of wharfs on the Bartram property, but there is very little hard data to document when, or where they were built. There was considerable fishing for shad in front of the garden, but how that operated we don’t know—from boats, from nets or perhaps lines from the shore There are lots of wood posts and pilings along the whole river front, and some stone features, which might be other docks or wharves. No one has systematically studied the tidal riverfront, or mapped the pilings and timbers.”

“The vintage photo at the top of the page is from the Spring of 1892. It shows the wharf and then-new boathouse that was built immediately adjacent.”

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Bartram’s Garden hosts the ribbon-cutting of the new 1.1 mile Bartram’s Mile Trail, a new segment of the Circuit Trails that expands the Schuylkill River Trail to connect Southwest Philadelphia to the City’s parks and the Schuylkill River.

This project was made possible through support from the William Penn Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Lenfest Foundation, The McLean Contributionship, NOAA Coastal Zone Management Program, PennDOT, the City of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Philadelphia Commerce Department, Philadelphia Water Department, and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell.

WHEN:

Saturday, April 22, 2017

11:00am to 12:00pm

WHERE:

The new Bandstand at Bartram’s Garden

56th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard

Philadelphia, PA 19143

PROGRAM:

11:00am to 11:55am

Ribbon-cutting ceremony with the following (in order speaking):

·         Kathryn Ott Lovell, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, City of Philadelphia

·         Mayor Jim Kenney, City of Philadelphia

·         Michael DiBerardinis, Managing Director, City of Philadelphia

·         Janet Haas, M.D., Chair of The William Penn Foundation

·         Sam Gill, Senior Adviser to the Pres. & VP/Learning & Impact, Knight Foundation

·         Senator Anthony H. Williams, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

·         Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, City of Philadelphia

·         Commissioner Debra McCarty, Philadelphia Water Department

·         Representative Joanna McClinton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

·         Maitreyi Roy, Executive Director, Bartram’s Garden

·         Freeway, Recording Artist and Community Health Advocate

11:55am to 12:00pm

Official ribbon cutting and photo opportunity

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Hello All,

Over the winter, we’ve broken ground on some new and exciting projects. There’s a “bandstand” at 56th Street by the river, and we’re especially thrilled that the Bartram’s Mile Trail is now complete. The ribbon-cutting will occur at our Open House and Spring Plant Sale on April 22.

We are moving our weddings to a new events tent at Eastwick Hill this summer, reducing wear on our historic buildings and ensuring that our visitors can enjoy the Garden at all times. We have temporarily removed our picnic pavilion, which will be restored and relocated to another spot in the Garden.

We know that the picnic pavilion has been a popular spot for gatherings and celebrations and we are committed to having that space available for our community. In the next few months, as we continue with our transformation, you’ll see more developments:

• For families and other groups, we will create a new picnic area at the foot of Eastwick Hill with a shady area that has lovely view of the river.

• We will also add more picnic tables in the North Meadow and by the Business Office for casual gatherings and groups.

As we start off the new season and look to another year of tremendous growth in the Garden, we hope you’re as excited about these changes as we are, and that you’ll see some of them for yourself at the Open House and Spring Plant Sale!

Warmly,

Maitreyi Roy
Executive Director,
Bartram’s Garden

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“Bliss described walking Feb. 22, 1884 from the Blockley Hospital (roughly the modern UPenn hospital complex), down the Darby Road and past Gray’s Ferry. The Episcopal Theological Seminary that Bliss mentions was between 50th and 51st along the east side of Woodland in the 1880s. So the ‘long lane‘ he and his companion ‘V’ [another resident doctor in the hospital] turned down towards the river might very likely have been either the Bartram/Carr/Eastwick entry lane or Hay/Gibson lane (partially preserved in modern Vodges Street).

“Looking across the river, he says he could see the refineries (Point Breeze) and two huge grain elevators (Girard Point), and then across the south Philadelphia marshes to see ships on the Delaware. He then walked back, ‘going down a railroad track towards the City’ – that was probably the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore. The ‘handsome mansion, built in English-manor style‘ on a knoll above the river might then have been the Eastwick house—if he was walking along the railroad bed, Bartram Hall would have been on the right—but that probably means he walked down Hay Lane/Gibson Lane to the river, so below 56th Street. The mansion with windows closed and boarded up, and many places plastering fallen from the walls, sounds like the Eastwick House in 1884.

“Interesting he says there was a large sign facing the railroad ‘which threatened all the law’s penalties upon anyone who ventured within the high, briar-covered stone wall enclosing the estate.’ That very much sounds like the Eastwick estate, and several similar accounts from the 1880s say there were no trespassing signs all over the estate, but people were always sneaking in. Andrew Eastwick died in 1879, so the estate had only been abandoned for five years in 1884—so quite an exaggeration on the decay and neglect.”

“Even when the Bartram Park was opened in 1891, the rest of the surrounding Eastwick estate was fenced off with no trespassing sign to keep people out of the vicinity of the Eastwick mansion.”

———————————————————————-

Top Image: James Fuller Queen (1820/1821–1886) painted Grays Ferry Looking South in 1858 depicting steamboats and barges on the Schuylkill River, with a marsh in the foreground. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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Observant visitors to Bartram’s Garden who meander down to the riverfront will notice a rock face etched with carvings. While most of the marks are modern, there are several historical etchings worth pointing out: closer to ground (above three feet above it) are several marks recording tidal high points of the Schuylkill River: “TIDE 1784,” “TIDE 17— [last 2 digits eroded away],” and “TIDE IN 1850.”

These markings (the author of which is unknown) were likely intended to identify exceptionally high tide levels, and they tell us (even today) that it takes an extraordinary amount of water to raise the lower Schuylkill level any degree. Most likely these floods were either in the spring-thaw period—perhaps March—or in late summer during tropical storms. Tropical storms seem more likely, as a tidal surge up the Delaware Bay will also raise the water level of the lower Schuylkill.

Says Bartram’s Garden curator Joel Fry: “I’ve never seen a storm here create flooding that reaches any of these marks, but  within the last five years, there have been a couple of storms where the lower ground along the river did flood. The water was either just beneath the boardwalk area there, almost reaching the rock face, or one storm the water was actually just over the top of the boardwalk. Because of the great width of the lower Schuylkill valley, it takes a great deal of water to raise much of a flood—and most of South Philadelphia (which would flood almost entirely before the water got very high here) on the east bank is lower than our west bank.”

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