Authorizing City Council's Committee of the Whole to hold public hearings to determine the condition of the City of Philadelphia's infrastructure, to identify the improvements and innovative strategies needed to maintain and upgrade that infrastructure to satisfactory levels, and to determine the funding currently available and additional funding needed to ensure that the infrastructure is capable of supporting the City's growing population.

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia’s infrastructure – its basic physical structures and facilities – constitutes the backbone of our municipality; and

WHEREAS, The Report Card for Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure 2018, authored by the Pennsylvania State Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers, observed that Pennsylvania “has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country” and that “[m]uch of Pennsylvania’s infrastructure continues to serve well beyond its intended lifespan and has deteriorated”; and

WHEREAS, The Report Card’s observations apply directly to the City of Philadelphia. For example, the Report Card noted that in Philadelphia, “half of the city’s water mains were installed prior to 1930 and nearly 30% were installed before 1900”; and that “[o]n average, the city experiences around 750 water main breaks per year – a little more than two a day.” The Water Department conducts an ongoing water main replacement program and an innovative stormwater program, but as the City’s population grows and construction of new housing expands into the City’s historic neighborhoods, the risk of further breaks and broken laterals grows as well; and

WHEREAS, The City’s vast infrastructure includes, not only its water facilities, but its airport, bridges, freight rail, park and recreation facilities, port, roads, schools, gas facilities, and transit system; and

WHEREAS, Each of these infrastructure components faces its own structural, technological, and funding challenges, some of which are likely to be exacerbated by climate change. Each of these components is essential to the health, safety, well-being and prosperity of those who work and live in the City; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That City Council’s Committee of the Whole is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to determine the condition of the City of Philadelphia’s infrastructure, to identify the improvements and innovative strategies needed to maintain and upgrade that infrastructure to satisfactory levels, and to determine the funding currently available and additional funding needed to ensure that the infrastructure is capable of supporting the City’s growing population.

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