SCRANTON, Pa. — Along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail in Scranton, one of the newer scenic routes opened in November. The section of the trail near Boulevard Avenue and Parker Street now has newly planted trees.
"Some of these sections of trail that we're going through, they don't have a lot of vegetation because they're former coal mines, so by us planting all these trees, we're hoping that we'll re-green the river and re-green the trail so that people can be shaded and it's something nice to look at while you're walking down the trail," said Owen Worozbyt, the director of operations for the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority.
The organization is partnering with Pennsylvania American Water and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to plant even more trees.
"For every customer that switches to paperless billing, we're donating $10 to plant a tree in their honor, so we're looking to donate up to $25,000 and 10 million trees, partners with a number of organizations across the Commonwealth. All of the trees will be planted within Pennsylvania American Water service areas," said Susan Turcmanovich, Pennsylvania American Water.
With a week left in April, it is the final push to get Pennsylvania American Water customers to switch to paperless billing. This is the first time the water company is doing something like this, and employees thought April was the perfect month to do it in honor of Earth Day.
"We felt like it was an opportunity for us to not only give our customers an opportunity to cut back on their Carbon footprint but also help the environment," Turcmanovich said.
So with all of the money donated by Pennsylvania American Water, organizations like the Lackawanna Heritage River Authority will be able to continue doing what they can to improve air quality, prevent pollution runoff, and all of the other benefits of planting trees.
"The trees are great because not only do they provide shade, but they also provide stabilization along the stream bank," Worozbyt added. "by us planting all these trees, we'll hopefully stop the erosion of sediments going into the Lackawanna River and then down into the Chesapeake Bay watershed."
Going paperless is easy. You can either call Pennsylvania American Water customer service or log on to your portal online and choose the paperless billing option.
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