Riverways is a consortium of nonprofit organizations creating connections between local waterways and communities in the Philadelphia-Camden region. For hundreds of years, the Delaware River watershed has suffered from polluted stormwater runoff, inadequate drainage systems, leaking septic tanks, illegal dumping and other ills. In Philadelphia, where the sewer system combines sewage with road runoff, Water Department annual reports show that the sewers overflow every time it rains, bypassing the wastewater treatment plant and discharging raw sewage into the rivers. The Riverways coalition educates and advocates for clean water and access to on-water and near-the-water experiences, particularly in communities historically denied that access. Through camps and other programs, youth are empowered to become leaders and catalysts for greater awareness and conservation of this vital resource. Riverways envisions a day when healthy waterways will connect all of the region’s communities.
Philadelphia Waterborne summer camp, 2022. Photo credit: Jano Cohen
Riverways’ three-person staff collaborates with coalition partners – including the LandHealth Institute and UrbanPromise, among others – to increase safe access to the region’s on-water trail network. Founded in 2017, the coalition oversees more than twenty summer camps that educate youth on water quality monitoring, recreation, environmental science and stewardship. The coalition primarily works with LatinX, Black and low-income communities in the Greater Philadelphia and Camden region. In 2023, the coalition brought over 14,000 people out on the river to admire birds, trees and the skyline. The coalition is also advocating for the Philadelphia Department of Environmental Protection to designate the 27-mile stretch of the Delaware River around Philadelphia and Camden for primary recreation. This status would protect the critically endangered Atlantic sturgeon, shortnose sturgeon, other sensitive fish species and aquatic fauna and flora, in addition to the people enjoying the river.
Riverways members during an organizational launch in May, 2019. From Left: Maitreyi Roy of Bartram’s Garden, Brian DuVall of the Center for Aquatic Sciences, Erica Freeman of Glen Foerd, Mike Flynn of Independence Seaport Museum, Megan Boone of Philadelphia Waterborne and Rachel Abbot of UrbanPromise. Photo Credit: Riverways.