The Gowanus Canal Superfund Site, Brooklyn, NY
In 1849, the NYS legislature authorized the construction of the GowanusCanal as the need for docking and navigational facilities grew in New York City. The canal was completed in the late 1860’s. Although the canal is only two miles long, it soon became an important part of Brooklyn’s commercial and maritime activities. All along the canal, factories and homes for the factory workers began to be built. Industrial plants such as oil refineries, chemical plants, coal gas manufacturing plants, machine shops, a sulfur producer, cement maker, soap maker and a tannery, were the types of heavily industrialized businesses that lined the canal. As the population in the area grew, a sewer connection was needed for all of the new buildings. As a result, the raw sewage from the surrounding area was discharged into the Gowanus Canal. The canal became known as, “LavenderLake”, due to the smell of all the industrial pollutants, runoff, and raw sewage which filled it. To deal with the smell, the water of the canal was circulated using a pumping station which was built in 1911. A 12 foot wide, 6,280 foot tunnel was built, and using a huge ship’s propeller, the water was pushed out of the canal and into the nearby harbor.
A Superfund site is contaminated land that has been affected by hazardous waste. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) places these sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) as candidates to be cleaned up because they are considered high risk for the environment and also for human health. In 2010, the EPA designated the canal as a Superfund site and it was placed on the NPL. The Gowanus Canal is one of the most polluted bodies of water anywhere in the United States.
Once the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was built in the 1950’s and trucks were being used to distribute products, the Gowanus Canal wasn’t used much. By 1955, the dredging of the canal that regularly took place ceased as it wasn’t cost effective and thought to be unimportant. In 1961, the canal’s flushing station broke and remained that way for the next 37 years. By the late 1970’s, over half of the land around the canal was left unused and empty since there was such a massive decrease of industrial work and jobs.
Although the canal itself became useless, the neighborhood around it became popular once again in the 1970’s. The increased population along with care for the environment has created efforts for reviving the canal. By 1989 raw sewage was no longer being flushed into the Gowanus Canal due to the construction of the Red Hook Wastewater Treatment Facility. There is however, still the issue of runoff and sewage running into the canal on rainy days. There isn’t much current in the canal, even with the flushing pump which circulates the water through a tunnel, and when the tide is low and it’s hot out, the odor can be horrible. To combat this, in 1999 a new pump installed by the EPA was flushing 200-300 million gallons of fresh water through the canal daily, replacing all of the water in the canal six times a day. While this dramatically improved the water condition, the undredged, contaminated sediment that’s been at the bottom of the canal for decades still remains. In 2018, the EPA entered the final phase of the dredging and capping project of the Gowanus Canal in the 4th Street turning basin which began in October of 2017. Roughly 17,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment has been dredged from the canal’s turning basin, and the bottom of the canal was capped. The sediment was taken away to be treated and disposed of. To create a clean bottom in the canal, sand, clay and carbon-absorbing materials were placed on the bottom. In the sediment and in the water of the canal, metals such as mercury, lead and copper were found at high levels, along with other contaminants. These contaminants have built up due to industrial and combined sewer overflow (CSO). The plan is to reduce CSO and other pollutants such as street run-off. The remainder of the canal will be dredged beginning in 2020. It is estimated that the cost of the clean-up is roughly $506 million dollars.
The Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation has used funds to create public open spaces along the canal through The Green Street program. Alternatives for ecosystem restoration such as dredging, and wetland and habitat restoration have been studied, and improving water quality is part of the community’s goals since many people have begun enjoying canoeing and kayaking along the canal. There is even a Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. Businesses and affordable housing communities have been built along the canal. There has also been a resurgence of wildlife such as geese, crabs, flounder, shrimp, mussels and jellyfish in the waters of the canal.
Rezoning of the area is scheduled to be completed prior to 2021 in order to create more affordable housing, parkland, and a school. People in the community are trying to preserve historic buildings in the area. Many of the original warehouses and architecturally significant buildings are in danger of being demolished. The Gowanus Land Marking Coalition has a list of 29 proposed area landmarks to try and preserve the area’s industrial character. The structures they are trying to save include everything from wood frame homes to large industrial structures. Currently, the only official landmarked location on the canal is the Carroll Street Bridge, dating back to 1889, and was landmarked in 1987. Many other unpreserved buildings dating back to 1915 have already been torn down to make room for new development. Another project is set to begin on the canal in 2028. Two tanks will be built to improve the amount of CSO discharge during rainfalls.
​
​
Citations
Gowanus Canal History. (2019, August 22). Retrieved from https://gowanuscanal.org/gowanus-canal-history.
​
Kensinger, N. (2018, May 31). Can the Gowanus Canal's industrial past be saved? Retrieved from https://ny.curbed.com/2018/5/31/17411810/gowanus-brooklyn-historic-preservation-rezoning-photo-essay.
​
GOWANUS CANAL Site Profile. (2017, October 20). Retrieved from https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0206222#bkground.
​
​