The Gowanus Canal was designated a Superfund site on March 2, 2010.
The Gowanus Canal is an old industrial waterway that curves through warehouse-lined streets in a once-gritty no-man’s land tucked between two residential communities, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.
Today the canal has lent its name to a hip, arty neighborhood, “Gowanus,” replete with bars, music venues, industrial lofts recast as art spaces, collective office spaces, and more.
Romantics and visionaries dream of the area becoming Brooklyn’s own “Little Venice.” There’s just one problem: the water.
Just What's Toxic in the Gowanus Canal?
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Report on the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site says, "As a result of years of discharges, storm water runoff, sewer outflows and industrial pollutants, the Gowanus Canal has become one of the nation's most extensively contaminated water bodies. Contaminants include PCBs, coal tar wastes, heavy metals and volatile organics. The contamination poses a threat to the nearby residents who use the canal for fishing and recreation."
What does this mean for housing prices?
And the health of local residents?
The EPA report is not specific about whatever health risks the toxic stew in the Gowanus Canal may pose to local residents. It simply says that scientists are "... performing field work to determine the full extent of the contamination in the Canal and to calculate the human and ecological risks associated with that contamination."
Contamination is at Bottom of the Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, Says EPA Superfund Expert
The EPA has a long and procedurally rigorous process of investigation to determine how best to dredge, vacuum, or otherwise remove the toxic accumulation. Because preliminary studies are being done, and recommendations will be subsequently subject to community feedback, it remains to be seen which removal technology they'll use.
EPA's Gowanus Superfund Site Community Involvement Coordinator, Natalie Loney said, in an interview in October 2010, "The goal is to avoid negatively impacting the health or increase risks of local community. We don't want the cure to be worse than the disease. And, in the process of remediation we will make sure don't negatively impact the health of the community living near the canal."
Noting that the contamination is primarily buried in the sediments at the bottom of the canal, Loney added, "Nobody is being exposed to the contamination in the canal, unless you swim in it or get it on your skin."
Ten-Year Clean-Up of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal Superfund Site
The Superfund cleanup process is estimated to take a decade, with a target date of completion of 2020. Another EPA Superfund site, Newtown Creek is located off Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on the border with another New York City borough, Queens.
