Gowanus Canal
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The Gowanus Canal (originally known as Gowanus Creek) is a
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...
in the
New York City borough The boroughs of New York City are the five major governmental districts that comprise New York City. They are the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of the State of New ...
of
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, on the westernmost portion of
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. Once a vital cargo transportation hub, the canal has seen decreasing use since the mid-20th century as domestic
shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...
declined. It continues to be used for occasional movement of goods and daily navigation of small boats, tugs, and barges. It is among the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. Connected to Gowanus Bay in
Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...
, the Gowanus Canal borders the neighborhoods of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, and Gowanus, all within South Brooklyn, to the west;
Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in South Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park and Eighth Avenue (Brooklyn), Prospect Park West to the east, ...
to the east; Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill to the north; and Sunset Park to the south. Seven
bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...
or viaducts cross the canal, carrying, from north to south, Union Street, Carroll Street, Third Street, the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
's Culver Viaduct, Ninth Street, Hamilton Avenue, and the Gowanus Expressway. The canal was created in the mid-19th century from local tidal
wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s and freshwater streams. For roughly a century, heavy industrial use poured pollutants into the canal. Various attempts to remove the pollution or dilute the canal's water have failed. High ratios of fecal coliforms, deadly proportions of
pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
s, and a low concentration of
oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
have left it generally incompatible with macroscopic marine life, although a variety of
extremophile An extremophile () is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e., environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known life can adapt to, such as extreme temperature, press ...
s have been observed in the canal. Despite the canal's heavy pollution, its proximity to Manhattan and upper-class Brooklyn neighborhoods is attracting concerted waterfront redevelopment. This has restarted calls for environmental cleanup, and prompted concerns that adjacent waterfront economic development would be incompatible with environmental restoration and environmental risks. It was designated a
Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site in 2009, and work to clean up the canal began in 2013.


Course

The Gowanus Canal begins at Butler Street in the neighborhood of Boerum Hill, in the northwestern part of Brooklyn. The wastewater pumping station at 201-234 Butler Street, a
terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
structure dating to 1911, is located north of the canal's head. The canal then runs in a south-southwest alignment parallel to the local street grid. Its course is located mid-block between Bond Street to the west and Nevins Street to the east. Along the way it passes bridges at Union Street, Carroll Street, and Third Street from south to north. While the Union Street and Third Street Bridges are movable
bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...
s, the Carroll Street Bridge is a retractable bridge that can be rolled diagonally to let ships through. The western bank of the Gowanus Canal hosts a boat launch at Second Street. The Second Street boat launch is located adjacent to a "Sponge Park", which absorbs pollutants from the western bank before they can go into the canal. At Fourth Street, the Fourth Street Basin splits off to the east, while the Gowanus Canal proper turns west. A walkway with seating, built as part of the construction of a
Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...
, is located on the north bank of the 4th Street Basin. At Hoyt Street, two blocks west of Bond Street, the canal turns south with two extra
tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...
at the east: one tributary at Seventh Street, and another near Sixth Street.For maps of the canal and adjacent properties, see: * * * Measurements are calculated using Google Maps. Shortly afterward, it crosses under the Ninth Street Bridge, a
vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swi ...
opened in 1999. The
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
's Culver Viaduct, a fixed-span viaduct, crosses above the Ninth Street Bridge. The viaduct contains the Smith–Ninth Streets station, which is partially located above the canal and is served by the . There is a short tributary to the east, about long, connecting to the parking lot of a
Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...
home-improvement store to the east, and Hamilton Plaza: a shopping center located at 1-37 12th Street which formerly housed a Pathmark supermarket and a
Dunkin' Donuts DD IP Holder LLC, doing business as Dunkin', and originally Dunkin' Donuts, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 19 ...
directly to the south. At this point, a walkway leads from Lowe's north to Ninth Street along the northern bank of the tributary and the eastern bank of the canal. Owing to its hidden location, the waterfront promenade has seen little use. At approximately 14th Street along the eastern bank, Hamilton Avenue and the Gowanus Expressway cross the canal at a diagonal from southeast to northwest, connecting to Lorraine Street on the western bank. Separate movable bascule bridges built in 1942 carry both directions of Hamilton Avenue's traffic, while the Gowanus Expressway rises on a viaduct far above the canal. The Gowanus Canal's mouth is at the Gowanus Bay, a portion of
Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...
bordering western Brooklyn. The mouth is located near 19th Street on the eastern bank, or Bryant Street on the western bank. The canal takes a north-northeasterly course from this point, running east of Smith Street. An asphalt plant and marine transfer station are located on the canal's eastern bank, as well as a
Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...
and a
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Shipping Center.


History


Early history


Mill Creek

The Gowanus neighborhood originally surrounded Gowanus Creek. It consisted of a tidal inlet of navigable creeks in original saltwater marshland and meadows that contained wildlife. The
Dutch government The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...
issued the first land patents within
Breukelen Breukelen () is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is situated to the northwest of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and close to the lakes of the Loosdrechtse Plassen, an area of natural and tourist i ...
(modern-day Brooklyn), including the land of the Gowanus, from 1630 to 1664. In 1636, the leaders of
New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...
bought the area around the Gowanus Bay. In 1639, the inhabitants swapped land claims with each other to build a tobacco plantation. The area's early settlers named the waterway "Gowanes Creek" after ''Gouwane'',
sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...
(chief) of the local
Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...
tribe called the
Canarsee The Canarsee (also Canarse and Canarsie) were a band of Munsee-speaking Lenape who inhabited the westernmost end of Long Island at the time the Dutch colonized New Amsterdam in the 1620s and 1630s. They are credited with selling the island of M ...
, who farmed on the shores. Adam Brouwer, who had been a soldier in the service of the
Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...
, built and operated the first tide-water
gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
patented in New York at Gowanus. The mill was located on land that was deeded on July 8, 1645, to Jan Evertse Bout. It was the first gristmill in the town of Breukelen and the first mill to operate in New Netherland. The mill was located north of Union Street, west of Nevins Street, and next to Bond Street. A second mill—Denton's Mill, also called Yellow Mill—was built on Denton's Mill Pond, after permission was granted to dredge from the creek to the mill pond once located between Fifth Avenue and the present-day canal at Carroll and Third Streets. On May 26, 1664, several Breuckelen residents, headed by Brouwer, petitioned
Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...
Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant ( – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the Directors of New Netherland, director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was pro ...
and his Council for permission to dredge a canal at their own expense through the land of Frederick Lubbertsen to supply water to run the mill. The petition was presented to the council on May 29, 1664, and the motion was granted. Another mill, Cole's Mill, was located just about at present day 9th Street, between Smith Street and the canal. Cole's Mill Pond, located north of 9th Street, occupied the present location of Public Place.


Farms and oyster fishing

In 1699, a settler named Nicholas Vechte built a farmhouse of brick and stone now known as the Old Stone House. In 1776, during the
Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn ...
, American troops engaged British Army troops at the house, enabling General
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
to relocate his troops behind American lines. This house sat at the southeastern edge of the Denton's Mill pond. Brower's Mill, also known as Freeks Mill or Brouwer's Mill, was located at the present-day intersection of Union and Nevins Streets. It can be seen in drawings depicting the Battle of Brooklyn. Throughout this period, a few Dutch farmers settled along the marshland and engaged in clamming of large
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
s that became a notable first export to Europe. The Gowanus Bay's
tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
s pushed
brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuary ...
further into the creek, creating an environment where large
bivalves Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed by a calcified exoskeleton consis ...
thrived. In succeeding generations, negative
artificial selection Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ...
slowly reduced the size of the bivalves, since smaller bivalves were better adapted to the creek's water. Larger bivalves were less likely to survive, and thus, less likely to reproduce. In 1774 the Government of New York enacted a law to widen the creek into a canal, to keep the watercourse in good condition, and to levy taxes on people who used land near it.


Industrial use


Transformation to city

By the mid-19th century, the City of Brooklyn was quickly growing and was the United States' third-largest city. The creek and surrounding agricultural land was now part of an urban agglomeration, consisting of villages along the creek's shores. That same shoreline of river and swamp functioned as both a transportation system and an informal sewage system for the growing city. The valley's watershed is approximately and includes drainage from what are now the adjacent neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Park Slope. Wealthier residents tended to live inland and uphill to avoid the smells and "discomforts" of lower areas. Industries, which needed water for processing, transport, and disposal of wastes, gravitated toward sites along the shoreline. The mills on the Gowanus were home to public landing sites, connecting the water route to the old Gowanus Road. As the local population grew, and the 19th-century industrial revolution reached Brooklyn, the need for larger navigational and docking facilities grew. Colonel Daniel Richards, a successful local merchant, advocated building a canal to benefit existing inland industries, and draining the surrounding marshes for
land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...
that would raise property values. In 1849, under a decree by the
New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an offici ...
, the Gowanus Creek was deepened so it could be used as a commercial waterway connected to
Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...
. The creek's dredging was completed in 1860. Another act of the Legislature in 1867 allowed the canal to be deepened further. In the same decade, a developer named Edwin Litchfield undertook a project to straighten the creek into a canal. At the time the , canal was built, several designs were proposed for it. Some included lock systems that would have allowed daily flushing of the whole waterway. However, these designs were considered too expensive. After exploring numerous alternative (and some more environmentally sound) designs, the final plan was chosen for its low cost.
United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...
(USACE) Major David Bates Douglass was hired to design the canal, which was essentially complete by 1869. The cost of the construction came from assessments on the local residents of Brooklyn and State money.


Industrial heyday and massive pollution

Despite its relatively short length, the Gowanus Canal was a hub for Brooklyn's maritime and commercial shipping activity. At its busiest, as many as 100 ships a day transported cargo through it. In addition, the industrial sector around the canal grew substantially over time to include stone and coal yards; flour mills; cement works, and manufactured gas plants; tanneries, factories for paint, ink, and soap; machine shops;
chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...
s; and
sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
producers. All of these industries emitted substantial
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
and airborne pollutants. Chemical fertilizers were manufactured along the canal soon after the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. Coal processing had been a dominant industry since 1869. By the late 19th century, there were 22 coal plants with frontage on the canal. Coal plants along the upper canal used large amounts of water in the conversion of coal to coke, liquids and gases. Coal gas was soon used for heating, light, and factory power. Coke was used to make steel. Wastewater and
coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoria ...
(now known to be a source of
carcinogens A carcinogen () is any agent that promotes the development of cancer. Carcinogens can include synthetic chemicals, naturally occurring substances, physical agents such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and biologic agents such as viruse ...
) were dumped back into the canal. Brooklyn's slaughterhouses dumped blood and other wastes into the canals. There was no through-flow of water and the canal was open at only one end, but the hope was that tides would be enough to flush the waterway. With the canal's wooden and concrete embankments, the strong tides of fresh diurnal doses of oxygenated water from
New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...
were barred from flowing into the channel. With the high level of development in the Gowanus watershed area, excessive
nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...
s and
pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
s are constantly flowing into the canal, further depleting the oxygen and creating breeding grounds for the pathogens responsible for the canal's odor.
Water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...
measures of the concentration of
oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
in the canal were just 1.5 ppm, well below the minimum 4 ppm needed to sustain life. The canal water took on a reddish-purple color, and a colloidal mixture described as "black mayonnaise" accumulated on its bottom. In 1887, the New York State Legislature closed the Bond Street outflow point. By 1889, pollution in the Gowanus Canal had become so bad that the Legislature appointed a commission to study ways to ameliorate the canal's condition. It concluded that the canal would be best off if it were closed to commercial traffic and then covered-over. The commission also called the canal "a disgrace to Brooklyn" because of the foul smells arising from the waterway.


Attempts to lessen pollution

The first step to ameliorate the canal's pollution was the 1890s construction of the Bond Street sewer pipeline that carried sewage out into the harbor. This proved inadequate. In the first attempt to improve flow at the northern, closed end of the canal, the "Big Sewer" was constructed from Marcy Avenue in Prospect Heights to Green and 4th Avenues in Gowanus. It then entered the canal at an inflow point near Butler Street. ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'' featured this sewer design for its innovative construction method and size. The area the sewer ran through was known as the "Flooded District". It was believed that this new sewer would serve two purposes: to drain the flooded district, and to use the flow of that excessive water to move the water of the upper Gowanus Canal. The tunnel was completed by 1893, but Brooklyn residents complained their sewage outputs were not connected to the Big Sewer. The ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' initially hailed the sewer's size and extent. However, the newspaper declared it an "engineering blunder" in 1898, saying the Big Sewer caused sewage to go back into the Gowanus Canal, rather than its intended purpose of draining sewage from it. During the first decade of the 20th century, up to 700 structures were built in South Brooklyn every year. Thriving industry brought many new people to the area, but important questions about
wastewater Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of do ...
sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
had not been properly addressed to handle such growth. All sewage from the new buildings drained downhill and into the Gowanus. Since there was less open ground than before, rainwater now went onto the roofs of the buildings and down into the canal. The building of new sewer connections only compounded the problem by discharging raw sewage from farther away neighborhoods into the canal. Pollutants, storm runoff, and discharge from the sewage system combined to make the canal's malodor so disgusting it was nicknamed "Lavender Lake". Compounding the problem, area property owners sued the city for damages related to the flooding issues that plagued the canal. By 1910, complaints were being made about the canal's water being almost solid waste, which provoked the installation of a flushing tunnel that was across. The Butler Street Pumping Station, a Beaux-Arts structure at the canal's inland end, opened on June 21, 1911. The new flushing tunnel connected to the Pumping Station. At first, the brick-lined tunnel supplied clean water from the
Buttermilk Channel 300px, The Buttermilk Channel, shown in red, in Upper New York Bay Buttermilk Channel is a small tidal strait in Upper New York Bay in New York City, approximately long and wide, separating Governors Island from Brooklyn. The channel is marked ...
between Brooklyn and
Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk ...
, carried it eastward underneath Butler Street, and discharged the clean water at the mouth of the Gowanus Canal. The flushing tunnel also failed, and aside from numerous operational glitches, a long series of errors and mistakes occurred throughout the 1960s. This culminated in an incident when a city worker dropped a
manhole cover A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to prevent anyone or anythi ...
, severely damaging the pump system, which was already suffering from the effects of the corrosive salt water. The
Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the primary respo ...
of 1972 had not yet been passed, and the city, stretched for funds at the time, did nothing to address the issue. As a result of the unrepaired damage to the flushing tunnel, and the long stretch of economic recession, the waters of the canal lay stagnant and under-used for years.


Reputation as dumping ground

On December 4, 1875, the body of a unknown woman was found in the Gowanus Canal. On May 30, 1904, the body of an unknown man was found in the Gowanus Canal, The same year on December 20, the body of a unknown man was found in the Gowanus Canal and the body of a man who had been missing for three weeks was also found in the canal on December 19, 1908. Two bodies were found there May 7, 1909. Several people have died after driving into the canal; examples include one man on January 2, 1919; Police Officer Daniel J. Grennan on December 9, 1920; two people on July 25, 1921; and two men on January 30, 1928. There is an
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
that the Gowanus Canal served as a dumping ground for the
Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
. Some cases are on record: news reports state that the bodies of a Brooklyn racketeer in the 1930s and a president of the Grain Handlers Union in the 1940s were found in the canal. In ''Lavender Lake'', a 1998 documentary about the canal, two New York City police officers discussed how two fishermen had recently pulled from the canal a suitcase containing human body parts. There have been reports of vessels lost in the canal. For instance, on January 2, 1889, the tugboat "Hugh Bond" sank in the canal during a gale, though the crew escaped. On May 10, 1892, the canal boat ''Alpha'' sank with a cargo of coal. On December 31, 1903, a dredge was found sunk in the canal, and an unnamed engineer/nightwatchman was reported missing and believed to be drowned. On August 13, 1918, a policeman found 28 sections of a submarine boxed in sections on the banks of the canal.


Economic decline

With six million tons of cargo hauled annually though the waterway after
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the Gowanus Canal became the nation's busiest commercial canal, and arguably the most polluted. The heavy sewage flow into the canal required regular dredging to keep the waters navigable. By the 1950s, Brooklyn's fuel trade was already converting from coal and artificial gas to petroleum, which was served by the wider and deeper
Newtown Creek Newtown Creek, a long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. River engineering#Channelization, Channelization made it one of the most heavily-use ...
, and natural gas, which arrived by
pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...
. In 1951, with the opening of the elevated Gowanus Expressway over the waterway, easy access for trucks and cars catalyzed industry slightly. The expressway carried 150,000 daily vehicles, which unloaded tons of toxic emissions into the air and water beneath. Around this time, sewage going to the Gowanus Canal was redirected into sewage treatment plants near the Buttermilk Channel. With the early 1960s growth of
containerization Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or International Organization for Standardization, ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuf ...
, the number of industrial waterfront jobs in the state declined. With much fanfare, the USACE completed its last dredging of the canal in 1955, and soon afterward abandoned its regular dredging schedule, deeming it to no longer be cost-effective. The intake fan that brought Buttermilk Channel water into the flushing tunnel broke in 1963, leading to its closure. A year later, the
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ; also referred to as the Narrows Bridge, the Verrazzano Bridge, and simply the Verrazzano) is a suspension bridge connecting the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It span ...
opened, eliminating the need for industrial boats to use the canal at all, since trucks could use the bridge and
Interstate 278 Interstate 278 (I-278) is an List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York (state), New York in the United States. The road runs from U.S. Route 1/9, US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) i ...
to ship goods from around the country to the Gowanus area. With the failure of the city sewage and pump station infrastructure, the Gowanus Canal was used as a derelict dumping place. It remained in that condition for almost three decades. By 1993, a single company was actively using the Gowanus Canal as a shipping channel, and three of the drawbridges along the canal would only retract to let that company's boats pass. The few remaining barges mostly carried fuel oil, sand, gravel and scrap metal for export. The canal still serves as a port moving goods in and out of Brooklyn.


Environmental cleanup


Early attempts at cleanup

Repeated calls have been made to revitalize the economy and the environment of the Gowanus area. The first major U.S. law that would allow this, a law to address water pollution, was the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948. It was followed by the establishment of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
(EPA) in 1970 and the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Beginning in the 1960s, locals formed the Carroll Gardens Association (CGA) to lobby for civic improvements, including cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. Long-time restaurateur Nick Monte called it a "stinking, cancerous sore" and a "stinking cesspool". CGA founder Salvatore "Buddy" Scotto Jr. referred to the canal as "the most polluted waterway in the world", and "the spine of our deterioration", relating it directly to the economic problems of the area. In 1971, the City of New York held hearings on a Gowanus Industrial Urban Renewal Project, but did not support it with funding. In 1974, Scotto brought microbiologists from the New York City Community College (now
New York City College of Technology The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1946, it is the City University of New York's college of technology. Its main urban campus is located in Downtown Brooklyn. History City Tech ...
, or City Tech) to test the Gowanus Canal's water for bacteria. The organisms they found included several that caused
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
,
cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
,
dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
, and
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
. The next year, funding was obtained for a preliminary assessment of the canal. Initial findings revealed an almost total absence of oxygen, much raw sewage, grease, oil, and sludge. In 1978, construction began on the Red Hook
Sewage Treatment Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...
plant in Vinegar Hill that had been planned since the 1950s. A full study of the canal was published in 1981. It indicated that on an average day, more than of raw sewage emptied into it. The report also documented the decreasing use of the canal by industry and shipping. The number of industrial firms using the canal fell from nearly fifty in 1942 to six in 1981. The amount of freight brought through the canal was more than 55% lower, and the number of times the drawbridges on the canal was opened declined by almost 70%. The report put forward a number of recommendations, one of which was fixing the flushing tunnel to increase the oxygen content of the water. In 1987, the Red Hook Treatment Plant was opened, diverting more sewage input from the canal. This $375 million plant collected waste from the existing Bond Street sewer and brought the total of
combined sewer overflow A combined sewer is a type of gravity sewer with a system of pipes, tunnels, pump stations etc. to transport sewage and urban runoff together to a sewage treatment plant or disposal site. This means that during rain events, the sewage gets dilute ...
(CSO) points in the city to 14. With the opening of the new plant, the last dry-weather discharge into a New York City waterway ended, and the CSO points now only function during rain storms. The next year a sewage pipe was installed within the flushing tunnel, but according to a
New York City Department of Environmental Protection The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's water supply and works to reduce air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. Under a 1.3 billion do ...
(NYCDEP) engineer, the pipe was so poorly installed that it failed "almost immediately". The city unsuccessfully attempted to fix the flushing tunnel's sewage pipe in 1998. It was fixed in 1999 after engineers reversed the direction of the tunnel's fan. Previously, water from the canal had gone westward into the Buttermilk Channel, but now water from the channel went into the Gowanus Canal.


Superfund cleanup


Planning

In 2002, the
US Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...
entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the DEP to collaborate on a $5 million Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study of the Gowanus Canal area. It was to examine possible alternatives for ecosystem restoration such as dredging, and wetland and
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
restoration and be completed in 2005. Discussions turned to breaking down the hard edges of the canal to restore some of the natural processes to improve the overall environment of the Gowanus wetlands area. The DEP also initiated the Gowanus Canal Use and Standards Attainment project to meet the city's obligations under the Clean Water Act. In early 2006, the problem of wastewater management arose during a controversy over a planned
arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...
for the
Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...
in nearby
downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...
. The project, at that point called Pacific Park, was to include a basketball arena and 17 skyscrapers. The resulting sewage would flow into antiquated combined sewers that can overflow when it rains. The Gowanus Canal has 14 combined sewer overflow points. The fear was the additional wastewater from the arena would lead to more frequent overflows in the canal. In March 2009, the EPA proposed that the canal be listed as a
Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
cleanup site. The
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protecti ...
(NYSDEC) supported this action. It had requested help from the EPA to address the canal's environmental problems. In May 2009, the city stepped forward to oppose the Superfund listing. For the first time it offered to produce a Gowanus cleanup plan that would match the work of a Superfund cleanup, but with a promise to accomplish it faster. The city said it could now achieve a faster cleanup than the EPA. It would fund the cleanup through taxpayer dollars from the state and city levels, while the EPA would seek its funding from the polluters. The nonprofit Gowanus Canal Conservancy was also founded in 2009, creating partnerships with the EPA, the NYCDEP, groups such as Riverkeeper, and universities such as Cornell and
Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...
. On March 4, 2010, the EPA announced that it had placed the Gowanus Canal on its Superfund National Priorities List. Following this, the Corps of Engineers halted its study immediately, giving all its research to the EPA. Initially, local residents resisted the EPA's proposed cleanup methods, as they feared that the toxic waste retrieved from the canal would instead be displaced onto nearby public areas. By 2013, the NYCDEP was planning to reduce the sewage content of the canal by repairing the freshwater tunnel that flushed the Gowanus. The repair was designed to mitigate, but not eliminate, the sewage problem. On September 27, 2013, the EPA approved a cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal. The plan, which would cost $506 million was intended to be completed by 2022, and divided the canal into three segments split by 3rd Street and the Hamilton Avenue Bridge. The plan entailed three steps: dredging contaminated sediment from the bottom of the canal; capping the dredged areas; and implementing controls on combined sewer overflows to prevent future contamination. It also involved excavating and restoring approximately of the former 1st Street Basin and of the former 5th Street Basin. The restoration was expected to be paid for by the host of entities deemed "responsible parties" for the pollution by the EPA, including Brooklyn Gas and Electric, now part of National Grid and the City of New York. The EPA suggested seven plans for the cleanup. In 2014, the EPA presented a proposal for containing toxic sludge in the Gowanus Canal. The ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...
'' reported two scenarios as most viable. These were estimated to take ten years to complete and would cost around $350–$450 million. The first step in the plans was dredging, which was scheduled to begin in 2016. The second step was to lay down one of two different proposed "caps". The first "cap" proposal was for a concrete device, while the second was for a multi-layered device with pollutant-absorbent clay, a sand buffer, and an
anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...
composed of rocks. Ultimately, the multi-layered cap was selected for installation in the canal. However, there were concerns that the cleanup could pose a health risk.


Beginning of cleanup

In early 2017, EPA administrator
Scott Pruitt Edward Scott Pruitt (born May 9, 1968) is an American attorney, lobbyist and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma. He served as the 14th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) f ...
, who had proposed many of the EPA budget changes and program eliminations, approved of the funding, saying that Superfund cleanups should be prioritized. Work on the cleanup process began in October 2017, and at the time, the cleanup was expected to cost $506 million. The first phase of a pilot study at the canal's Fourth Street Turning Basin began in December 2016, but was delayed while bulkheads were being installed along the canal's banks. The pilot dredging uncovered several artifacts such as a crash boat from
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
; industrial wooden bobbins for textiles; and 19th-century wagon wheels. These artifacts had to be cleaned of contaminants before archaeologists could study them. In July 2018, during the pilot study, the promenade near Whole Foods was damaged due to contractor error. The cleanup itself was expected to start in 2020 and be completed two years later. The EPA issued a formal order on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, which initiated the first phase of the $506 million cleanup on the 1.8 mile long canal. This $125 million first phase would begin in September 2020 and last 30 months, though it wound up lasting 46 months ending in July 2024. On June 27, 2024, the EPA amended the 2020 order with a $369 million contract, beginning the second phase of cleanup, with no end date in sight.


Cleanup components


EPA treatment

The canal's toxic sediment layer averages thick, and at some spots reaches . As part of the Superfund cleanup, the EPA would remove approximately of highly contaminated sediment from the upper and middle segments and of contaminated sediment from the lower segment. The sediment would be treated at an off-site facility. Then, at the locations where contamination had permeated the underlying sediment, the EPA would cap the dredges with multiple layers of clean material. The multi-layer caps consist of an "active" layer made of a specific type of clay that would remove contamination that could well up from below. Atop the clay layer is an "isolation" layer of sand and gravel that will ensure that the contaminants are not exposed. Next, an "armor" layer of heavier gravel and stone prevents boat traffic and canal currents from eroding the underlying layers. The topmost layer comprises sufficient clean sand atop the "armor" layer, filling the gaps in the layer of stones and establishing sufficient depth to restore the canal bottom as a habitat. In the middle and upper segments of the canal, where liquid coal tar has seeped into the natural sediment, the EPA would stabilize that sediment by mixing it with concrete or similar materials. The stabilized areas would then be covered with the multiple-layer caps. As the Superfund model required the EPA to seek restitution from the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs), the estimated cost of the cleanup plan would be divided and distributed among more than 30 companies responsible for polluting the canal, as well as government entities like the New York City government and the United States Navy. Some of these companies, such as Brooklyn Union Gas, either no longer existed, had relocated, or had been renamed. If these defunct companies have been incorporated into another company, the property owners and the parent companies were expected to take responsibility, as are the companies that created or moved the pollutants around. The EPA Superfund Gowanus report identified two major PRPs: National Grid (which later acquired Brooklyn Union Gas' successor KeySpan) and the New York City government.


Reactivation of the flushing tunnel

According to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, plans to reactivate the flushing tunnel pump were proposed in 1982. Various events caused the project to be delayed until 1994. The tunnel was finally reactivated in 1999. The new design employed a 600
horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...
(450 kW) motor, that pumped an average rate of a day of aerated water from the
Buttermilk Channel 300px, The Buttermilk Channel, shown in red, in Upper New York Bay Buttermilk Channel is a small tidal strait in Upper New York Bay in New York City, approximately long and wide, separating Governors Island from Brooklyn. The channel is marked ...
in the
Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...
into the head end of the canal. Although water was circulating through the tunnel, tidal forces meant it could only be pumped 11 hours a day. The water quality of samples taken while the flushing pump was operating was reported to have improved. In 2010, New York City began a four-year project to upgrade and reactivate the flushing tunnel. According to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', the proposed plans included steps to "reconstruct the motor pit and replace the propeller with three modern vertical turbines; clean, patch and smooth the interior of the tunnel; replace the broken sewer pipe and encase it in concrete to improve water flow; and reduce the amount of sewer overflow into the canal by increasing capacity at a nearby pumping plant". Increasing oxygen content was a major goal of the project. The original plans were modified in 2012, after
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...
, to protect critical equipment from flooding. In 2014, following completion of much of the work, the tunnel was reactivated at a cost of $177 million.


Stormwater management

Throughout its history, the Gowanus Canal's sewage problems have been exacerbated by the effects of stormwater. For years, heavy rains have flooded streets and caused sewage lines to overflow, contributing to the canal's contamination. Much of the Gowanus Canal area is at sea level, in a Zone A risk area for flooding. To help prevent flooding, the city is investing in various methods of stormwater management. One related improvement has been the creation of specialized curbside gardens, or
bioswales Bioswales are channels designed to concentrate and convey stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution. Bioswales can also be beneficial in groundwater recharge, recharging groundwater. Bioswales are typically vegetated, mulched, or xer ...
, along sidewalks to absorb
stormwater Stormwater, also written storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed lan ...
and reduce sewer overflows into the canal. A community-based non-profit organization, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, is involved in stewardship of the bioswales. In 2015, the city built Sponge Park, along the canal's western bank at Second Street. The park doubles as a stormwater catchment area, absorbing pollutants before they can go into the canal. Beginning in 2017, the city's Department of Environmental Protection built several miles of high-level storm sewers (HLSS) to prevent stormwater from flooding the city's sewage system. The new storm sewers carry stormwater collected in new and existing catchment areas, preventing it from entering the sewage system. The first phase, comprising sewer installations south of Douglass Street, was supposed to be completed by summer 2018; a second phase north of Douglass Street would proceed from 2018 to 2020. The HLSS, built on a area east of the northern end of the canal, are planned to capture half of the stormwater within the Gowanus Canal's watershed. Also in 2017, the New York City government published plans to construct two combined sewer overflow (CSO) treatment facilities along the canal to help with stormwater management. The first facility, the "Head End Site", is to be at the very north end of the canal on the eastern bank. The facility, located adjacent to an existing manufactured gas plant site, would handle sewage from the Red Hook Watershed, which comprises the land around the canal's western bank and north of the canal's head. The second facility, the "Owls Head Site", is to be at Second Avenue and Fifth Street, where the Fourth Street Basin splits off the rest of the canal. It would clean the water from the Owls Head watershed, which constitutes the land from the eastern bank to Prospect Park. These new facilities are required as part of an agreement between the city and the EPA. The Owls Head and Head End CSO facilities were designed by Selldorf Architects. The plan also includes a park next to the Owls Head CSO facility, designed by dlandstudio and Sasaki. By February 2019, the EPA and the city disagreed on whether untreated sewage should be stored in tanks or flushed out through a tunnel. The EPA wanted to divert the sewage to two newly built tanks along the canal, which would be less costly and be complete by 2027. However, the city has proposed diverting untreated sewage into a new tunnel, which would be more expensive and be finished in 2030. In 2021, the EPA ordered the city to construct sewage retention tanks before cleanup began. The EPA and the city agreed to the two-tank option, and the city began construction on the larger tank by September 2023 and the smaller tank by March 2024, with completion for both expected by 2029. The larger tank was completed in March 2025, six months earlier than scheduled.


Redevelopment


Redevelopment plans

As early as 1980, the Gowanus area's low rents and proximity to more expensive cultural centers in New York had attracted artists and musicians. The sparsely occupied industrial area offered spaces for studios, music venues, bars, gyms and other businesses that benefited from low space-to-cost ratios. Nonetheless, the area's population declined to a historic low of 24,000 residents in 1990. The Carroll Street Bridge, an important Gowanus Canal crossing, closed for renovations in 1985. This caused major inconveniences for the surrounding communities, who had to walk several blocks to get to the other side of the canal. Businesses and schools closed as a result. The bridge reopened in 1989, its 100th anniversary. In 1999, Assemblywoman Joan Millman allocated $100,000 to the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation (GCCDC) to produce and distribute a bulkhead study and public access document. The following year, GCCDC received $270,000 from the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
's Green Street program to construct three street-end public open spaces along the Gowanus Canal. Governor George E. Pataki funded an additional $270,000 to create a revitalization plan in 2001. $100,000 in capital funds were allocated in 2002 to implement a pilot project on the shoreline. In 2003, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez allocated an additional $225,000 to create a comprehensive community development plan. The organization relies on community volunteers to maintain and clean these Green Street Projects. The
New York City government The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a Mayor–council government, mayor-council system. The Mayor of New York City, mayor is electe ...
, local citizens' groups, developers, the EPA, and the USACE had a wide variety of concerns and differing visions for redevelopment in the area. The New York City government feared that designating the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site would result in many potentially costly lawsuits against polluters. Meanwhile, the area directly to the east of the Gowanus neighborhood was rezoned for high density residential use with a strong commercial component in 2003. In 2009, plans to rezone Gowanus were also created. Many residents and community groups have expressed concern over the sewage overflow that the rezoning could possibly create.


Redevelopment sites

The
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
closed a USPS maintenance garage on the east side of the Ninth Street Bridge in the early 1990s. The site became available for commercial development. In 1998, the site was proposed for the construction of Brooklyn Commons, a $63 million entertainment and retail complex featuring a 22-screen
multiplex cinema A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens or auditoriums within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums a ...
, a
bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...
, shops, restaurants and a 1,500-space parking lot. The Swedish furniture store
IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...
planned to open a store on the site, but withdrew its proposal in 2001 after opposition from the community. IKEA was later given permission to build a store in adjacent Red Hook. The 9th Street site remained empty until 2004 when a large
Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...
store was built and opened, along with an adjacent public
promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortification, fortress or city walls ...
overlooking the canal. By 1998, the neighborhoods around the canal (Carroll Gardens and Park Slope) were experiencing a resurgence of interest in the residential market. Perceptions of environmental risk related to pollution and possible flooding vied with the appeal of a diverse community accessible to more expensive areas of New York City. The area was given a new zoning designation, the "Gowanus Manufacturing Zone", as various groups try to determine the future of this complex urban space.


Effects of the cleanup on redevelopment

In February 2009, the City of New York granted a zoning change to the developer, Toll Brothers Inc. This allowed for a 480-unit, twelve-story super-block residential project, the first one permitted along the waterway. The city also set aside some land for a medium-sized development with 3,200 apartments. Twenty-five city blocks were allocated for 60 sites that were planned to produce a combined $500 million in tax revenues per year. Toll Brothers abandoned their project in 2010 after the Gowanus Canal was declared a Superfund cleanup site. However, the cleanup itself led to a larger redevelopment movement in Gowanus. The first large-scale luxury development in the Gowanus area, 365 Bond, opened in June 2016 and was completely occupied by the following year. There were more than 56,000 applications for the 86 affordable apartments included in the development. In August 2016, the city restarted the rezoning process for the surrounding neighborhood. In June 2017, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy began the process of designing a redevelopment plan for the area. Officials planned to reveal a more comprehensive plan in 2018, including rezoning a 43-block area and requiring developers to reserve 25% of the new units for
affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...
. By late 2017, new development was concentrated around a rezoning area in the northern half of the canal. Although this area had gentrified rapidly, some residents opposed the new developments. The zoning plan for the area was projected to undergo changes through 2019, at which point the Superfund cleanup would be at its peak. Several developers bought, or were planning on buying, abandoned or little-used waterfront sites along the canal. An artist's community at Ninth Street was being turned into a mixed-use office building complex. In addition, the lyric-annotation website Genius.com had moved into a building along the northern portion of the canal.


Current usage

Organizations dedicated to providing waterfront access and canal education include the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club (founded in 1999), and The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy (founded in 1998). During the 2003 season, more than 1,000 people participated in Dredger Canoe Club programs, logging more than 2,000 trips along the canal. During the 2024 season, the club logged 1,144 trips on the Canal as access is restricted due to the ongoing Superfund cleanup. The city government took a site at Smith and 4th Streets in 1975 and designated it a public place for use as "public recreation space". Despite the legal standing as a Public Place, developers have continually proposed developing the site for other uses. National Grid is accountable for cleanup of the pollution left on the site after years of coal gas manufacture. Upon completion of this cleanup, the site was to be turned over to the New York City Parks Department."Cleanup of the Gowanus Canal"
Gowanus Superfund website. Accessed: November 14, 2014


Activism

In November 2006, HABITATS, a festival dedicated to "local action as global wisdom", celebrated the Gowanus Canal with environmental conferences, collaborative art, educational programs and interactive walks around the area. The canal has also been the home to various arts organizations.
Issue Project Room ISSUE Project Room (often shortened to ISSUE) is a music venue in Brooklyn, New York, founded in 2003 by Suzanne Fiol. ISSUE Project room owns a theatre in 110 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The venue supports a wide variety of contempo ...
once organized art events in a converted silo along the bank of the canal. The Yard, an outdoor concert space, opened in the summer of 2007 near the Carroll Street Bridge, but shut down at the end of summer 2010. On
Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...
in 2015, environmental activist Christopher Swain swam through the Gowanus Canal to promote awareness of the environmental restorative work. He wore protective swimwear however some of his skin was exposed to the biological and industrial waste. He applied preventative countermeasures such as antibacterial lotion and a hydrogen peroxide mouthwash. Swain, who had swum through heavily polluted waterways, described the Gowanus as being the dirtiest body of water that he had swum through, composing of "mud, poo, detergent, oil and gasoline" and "swimming through a dirty diaper".


Water quality

Different parts of the Gowanus Canal are effectively microclimates, which may have very different conditions and types of contamination. Overall, the water is considered unsafe to drink or swim in, and contact with the canal's water is discouraged. The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club encourages people to canoe on the canal, in part as an incentive to revitalize the area. The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy allows careful diving using full-encapsulation suits, followed by rigorous decontamination procedures. Fish caught in the canal are generally toxic and unsafe to eat in large quantities. birds have begun returning to the canal, which some hope suggests the water quality is improving enough to support wildlife.


Anecdotal descriptions

Anecdotal reports of the canal's water quality include descriptions of a reddish-purplish color due to coal and slaughterhouse wastes in the 19th century, and a lighter purplish color, leading to its nickname "Lavender Lake" in the 20th century. Twentieth-century author H. P. Lovecraft described "the lapping oily waves at its grimy piers". In 1999, the water's usual color was described as "green with a white undertone, akin to the look of cream-infused coffee". A 2013 account describes the canal's "modern" color as being gray-green. In 2017, two long-time residents recalled the canal's black color in the 1950s: "All you could see was a big cesspool, and bubbles coming up." The surface of the Gowanus Canal's water has frequently been reported to have an iridescent sheen suggestive of oil, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), coal tar, and other industrial wastes. As recently as December 2009 a Gowanus Canal Investigation Executive Summary Report noted the presence of "spotty, iridescent, and platy sheens of varying intensity," fecal matter, emulsified oil, and Bleb (cell biology), blebs of non-aqueous phase liquid in various areas of the canal. Photographers have also captured artistic images of the canal. The opaqueness of the canal's water obstructs sunlight to one-third of the depth needed for the bottom-level growth of aquatic plants. Rising gas bubbles betray the decomposition of sewage sludge that on a warm, sultry day produces the Gowanus Canal's notable ripe stench. One reporter in 1999 described the smell as "like sticking your head into a rubber boot filled with used motor oil and rotten eggs," while another in 1998 said that it was "less a scent than an assault that reaches in to choke the throat. Sometimes it has the biting odor of petroleum, with more than a hint of dead fish." There are reports that the smell has lessened in recent years as oxygen levels in the water have increased. The murky depths of the canal conceal the legacy of its industrial past: cement, oil, Mercury (element), mercury, lead, multiple volatile organic compounds, PCBs, coal tar, and other contaminants. A sludgy bottom-layer of "black mayonnaise" was described beginning in the 19th century and is still present—in some places up to deep.


Scientific measurements

Beginning in the 1970s, a variety of governmental, academic, and citizen science, citizens' groups have taken intermittent measurements of the canal's water quality. There has been no coherent, long-term program for tracking water quality because no funds exist for such a program. The canal hosts high levels of
pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
s, many of which are harmful to humans. The 1974 report by New York City Community College microbiologists found that the water contained typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and tuberculosis. Additionally, a 2003 report of the New York Harbor showed that the Gowanus Canal had the highest level of pathogens of any location in the entire harbor. Microbiologist Nasreen Haque and her classes from the City University of New York have also tested water from the Gowanus. In 2007–2008, Haque's classes reported finding "every kind of imaginable pathogen", including those that cause gonorrhea. However, in 2010, students from City Tech found lower levels of ''Escherichia coli'' than they had expected. Fecal matter is also prevalent in the canal. In 2009, a local environmental "neighborhood watch" called Riverkeeper tested canal water immediately following heavy rains and sewage flooding. It reported ''Enterococcus'' at levels of 17,329 cells per 100 milliliters, with anything above 104 cells per 100 milliliters being considered unsafe; ''Enterococcus'' is considered an indicator of other possible pathogens. As of 2013, fecal matter was still present in Gowanus' water at levels of parts per hundred. A more usual measurement for a waterway would be parts per million. Low levels of dissolved oxygen in the canal's waters predate World War I. The minimum level of oxygen required to support healthy marine life is estimated at 4 parts per million. As early as 1909, it was reported that the canal had no oxygen at all. In 1975 a severe lack of oxygen was still observed, indicating the water was incapable of sustaining plant life or fish. In 1999, just before the flushing tunnel was reactivated, ''The Environmental Magazine'' reported that oxygen levels in the Gowanus Canal measured about 1.5 parts per million; this number continued to be quoted fourteen years later. However, by 2008, nine years after the flushing tunnel was reopened to provide oxygenation of the water, biologist Kathleen Nolan and students from St. Francis College sampled the water and reported that levels of dissolved oxygen had substantially increased. In 2014, a NYSDEC representative stated that dissolved oxygen levels were reported to be in the range of , or approximately 9–12 parts per million. With respect to the underlying layers of residue in the canal, the EPA and other organizations have performed detailed analyses of the composition and distribution of black mayonnaise throughout it. The 2012 Superfund Proposed Plan also includes detailed assessments of risk related to the types of pollutants in the layers of sediment, the water, and the surrounding area. The Gowanus Canal's pollution has also spread to Gowanus Creek, at the mouth of the canal. In 1982, USACE released the results of a report on navigation in the creek. It found that there were nonexistent levels of oxygen; high concentrations of fecal coliforms; and significant clusters of oil and grease.


Wildlife

Originally, the marshland and freshwater springs that drained into the Atlantic Ocean in Upper New York Bay were capable of supporting massive oyster beds. As late as 1911, people reported fishing in the Gowanus Canal and treading for clams. By 1927, the last of New York's oyster beds had closed as a result of habitat destruction, over-harvesting, and pollution. Attempts have been made to reintroduce oysters and other shellfish to the canal, because they can filter out toxins and help clean the water. One oyster can process as much as of water a day. The NY/NJ Baykeeper environmental group gives oysters to volunteers who then monitor their health and growth in local waterways. They have helped Katie Mosher-Smith and The Gowanus Community Oyster Garden's Stewards to partner with teachers, students and the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club to install and monitor oyster cages in the canal. In 2012, landscape architect Kate Orff proposed a design for a park with a living reef containing oysters, mussels, and eelgrass. As part of a pilot program, ropes were hung off of a pier to attract Geukensia demissa, ribbed mussels. Restoration of the flushing tunnel, and the resulting increase in oxygen levels in the canal, have supported the return of some aquatic life. Within months of the reopening of the flushing tunnel in 1999, John C. Muir of the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment observed pink jellyfish, blue crabs, and a variety of fish. By 2009, white perch, herring, striped bass, and anchovies were living in the waterway. In 2014, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy reported that herons, egrets, bats, and Canada goose, Canada geese were living nearby. However, individuals and populations of wild animals living in the Gowanus Canal may be at risk for reproductive problems. Creatures living in the canal generally have a below-average life expectancy compared to members of the same species living elsewhere in New York Harbor. Approximately 15 edible species of fish and shellfish can be found in the canal, but they are toxic. The shellfish contain toxins and are unsafe to eat, according to a 2012 report. However, signs posted in 2018 note that men over age 15 and women over age 50 can safely eat up to six blue crabs from the Gowanus Canal each week, although women under 50 and children under 15 should not eat the canal's blue crabs at all. Aquatic mammals have been observed in the canal only rarely and in cases of severe distress. A harp seal was observed in the canal in 2003, its flippers bloodied, but it survived and was relocated to the Long Island Sound. In 2007, a young minke whale ended up in the canal as a result of heavy storms. The whale, soon nicknamed "Sludgy", was unable to get out and soon died. A necropsy of Sludgy, performed by animal anatomist Joy Reidenberg, indicated that the whale had already been sick. On January 26, 2013, a dolphin entered the canal at low tide, was unable to get out, and died. A necropsy showed that it was middle-aged and sickly before becoming trapped. It had kidney stones, gastric ulcers, and parasites.


New forms of life

Although the Gowanus Canal is poisonous to humans, it may be breeding previously unidentified types of organisms. In 2008, Nasreen and Nilofaur Haque reported the presence of white clouds of "biofilm" floating above the sludge on the bottom of the canal. Examinations suggested that the colloquially named "white stuff" is a co-operative mix of bacteria, protozoa, chemicals, and other substances. The parts of the mixture acted together to find food, and the biological components exchanged genes and excreted material that acts as an antibiotic to protect it from toxins in the water. The Haques started studying methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' from the canal to learn more about what makes bacteria resistant, so that the research might help to develop new antibiotic drugs. In 2014, volunteers and scientists donned Hazmat suits to sample the black mayonnaise from the canal, extracting DNA which was sequenced at the Weill-Cornell Medical College. Ellen Jorgensen, executive director of the startup Genspace, reported that the group failed to identify half of the DNA. They found "42 kinds of bacteria, two viruses, and five life forms from the domain Archaea," many uniquely adapted to the extreme environment of the Gowanus Canal. Methylococcaceae, a family of microbes found in the Fourth Street Basin, consume methane. Desulfobacterales take in sulfate and release hydrogen sulfide, contributing to the Gowanus' characteristic rotten egg smell. Bioengineers and others involved in the 2014 study were also interested in studying the Gowanus Canal's unique microbial communities. These naturally-evolving bioremediating bacteria consume the Gowanus' pollutants. Understanding how they co-exist with and degrade toxic compounds might suggest new methods for bioremediation.


In popular culture

Thomas Wolfe described the "huge symphonic stink" of the canal which was "cunningly compacted of unnumbered separate putrefactions" in his 1940 novel ''You Can't Go Home Again''. The 1985 film ''Heaven Help Us'' used Carroll Street Bridge as a filming location. In Jonathan Lethem's ''Motherless Brooklyn (novel), Motherless Brooklyn'' (1999), a character refers to the canal as "the only body of water in the world that is 90 percent guns". In Joseph O'Neill (born 1964), Joseph O'Neill's novel ''Netherland (novel), Netherland'' (2008), the remains of one of the protagonists are found in the Gowanus Canal. In an episode of the TV show ''Bored to Death'', called "The Gowanus Canal Has Gonorrhea!", two antagonists threaten the show's hero with a swim in the canal. In 2014, So What? Press published an issue of its comic series ''Tales of the Night Watchman'', entitled "It Came from the Gowanus Canal", about a toxic sludge monster who lives in the canal and takes revenge on a gangster who once dumped bodies there. It was written by Dave Kelly and illustrated by Molly Ostertag. The publisher also produced a fake movie poster in conjunction with the Gowanus Souvenir Shop based on the issue in 2015. In 2017, a sequel to the comic was produced with the title "It Came from the Gowanus Canal...Again!" It was written by Dave Kelly, drawn by Brett Hobson, colored by Clare DeZutti, with a cover by Tim Hamilton. In the sequel, the monster returns and takes revenge on criminals who are responsible for the death of a young boy, but the Night Watchman must protect one of the killers to stop the monster. In November 2015, ''Gothamist'' posted a video that featured a fisherman saying that he had just caught a three-eyed catfish in the canal. Although the story was later posted by a number of news outlets, experts expressed skepticism about the fish story. A ''New York Times'' article indicated that the three-eyed catfish was a hoax perpetrated by the performance artist Zardulu.


See also

* List of Superfund sites in New York * The Gowanus Memorial Artyard * Geography of New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary * Bob Zuckerman, activist who has advocated for cleaning the canal


References


External links


Remediation updates website

Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club

The Gowanus Canal
at southbrooklyn.net
The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy

Gowanus Canal Conservancy
{{Authority control 1869 establishments in New York (state) Boerum Hill Canals in New York (state) Canals opened in 1869 Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Gowanus, Brooklyn Park Slope Port of New York and New Jersey Rivers of Brooklyn Superfund sites in New York (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Brooklyn Water transportation in New York City