When Germantown resident Fred Lewis retired from his career as a management consultant, he needed a new project. A staff member at the Center in the Park, a senior community center in Germantown, asked if he’d be interested in forming an environmental group for seniors. Lewis accepted, despite having no environmental science background.

“That gave me a job, and it never stopped. That was over 30 years ago,” Lewis told the Local last month at a biology lab at Chestnut Hill College.

 The group — called the Senior Environment Corps (SEC) program — monitors water, soil and air quality throughout Philadelphia. On a recent Friday afternoon, nearly a dozen members gathered in the lab to examine water samples from a tributary of the Wissahickon called Monoshone Creek, which they are testing for E. coli contamination. Bob Meyer, professor of emeritus of biology at Chestnut Hill College and an SEC member, demonstrated how to count the colonies that grew overnight on the agar plates.

 The presence of E. coli bacteria indicates that the water may be contaminated by sewage or traces of animal waste. Most strains are harmless, but some can cause severe food poisoning. The EPA’s limit for E. coli in recreational waters is 126 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters.

 Billions of gallons of untreated sewage and rainwater flow into Philadelphia waterways every year due the city’s outdated water system, PennEnvironment, an environmental advocacy group, reported in 2025. Meyer has seen E. coli contamination decrease significantly in the Wissahickon since the city made infrastructure improvements in the 2000s, but the numbers haven’t reached zero. The group still monitors the creek a few times a year in case of a large influx, he said.

 “Right now, these numbers are very low,” he told the Local. “But we did this right after a big rain. And sometimes that just flushes the system out and the water comes out pretty clean, which I think is what happened here.”

 Meyer, who joined SEC in 2000, said the group has 10-12 core members and meets on the first Friday of every month at the Center in the Park senior center in Germantown. Lewis and co-founder David Schogel have been running the group since the 1990s. Some members help with collecting samples, while others conduct research and testing at the lab.

 The group began generating interest after the release of the 2004 documentary, “Knee Deep,” which highlighted its monitoring of E. coli contamination in Monoshone Creek. The members’ data collection led to the discovery of untreated sewage in the creek, and the Philadelphia Water Department spent $1 million on remediation. The 30-minute documentary was nominated for an Emmy Award by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 2005.

 “That sort of put us on the map and since then, we’ve prospered,” Lewis said.

 SEC’s upcoming projects include counting microplastics in water samples from the Wissahickon Creek near the Ambler Wastewater Treatment Plant. The group wants to see whether the plant is impacting microplastics levels in the water.

 Over the past year, members have collected soil samples for the University of Pennsylvania’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology to test for lead in an ongoing project. And in 2024, the group started expanding its air quality testing using a Community Resilience and Environmental Justice Fund grant. They installed air quality monitors near the SEPTA Roberts Gas and Heating Plant in Nicetown, after neighbors expressed concern over potential pollutants there. The monitors don’t reveal any alarming data, Meyer said. But they only track particulate matter, like soot and smoke, not other harmful gases.

 Over the years, the group has recruited members through media coverage and word-of-mouth, Lewis said.

 Doris Politz, a Plymouth Meeting resident and former chemical hygiene officer, recently joined after seeing WHYY’s Nov. 3 profile on the group, she said. She studied environmental health in college.

 “I’ve always been concerned about the environment,” she said.  

 Karen Kabnick, a biologist and vice president of the Community Canopy Project in lower Montgomery County, said she joined SEC to continue pursuing her love for science in retirement and to meet new people.

 The group is proof that you can remain a contributing member of society as you age.

 “I love my career, but this is fun too,” Kabnick said.

 Lewis and his late wife of 65 years were active volunteers at Center in the Park.

 “I’ve always been busy. I was sort of reluctant to retire because I didn’t want to do nothing. Thank goodness [SEC] came about,” he said.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.