Cleanup of the Gowanus Canal Begins After Years of Planning

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Just after 4 p.m., the earth mover's red claw dangled above the water before plunging down, a massive, real-life version of the arcade game to which everyone's lost at least fifty cents.

It emerged seconds later with what looked like large boards or slabs of metal pinned between its massive teeth. A strong whiff of sewage blew across the fetid water. And with that, the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, one of New York City's most notoriously polluted waterways, had begun.

Built in the mid-19th century, the Gowanus spent more than a century delivering goods and materials to and from Brooklyn. It was also used as a dumping ground — not just for things like tires and trash, explained Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Involvement Coordinator Natalie Loney, but for coal tar, the byproduct of at least three manufactured gas plants that dotted its shores.

Declared a Superfund site in 2010, its clean up is being paid for by the companies that polluted it, at a total cost of about $500 million. The work is being supervised by the EPA.

Step one, which got underway on Monday, is the removal of debris in the canal's Fourth Street Turning Basin, the stretch of water running from Butler Street to Third Street. According to the EPA, a sonar map of the canal bed showed 36 large objects, which included "two boat wrecks, eight support pilings, a tree and 25 other items that measured greater than five feet across." One of the boats dates from World War II, and subsequently became an art exhibit before meeting its watery fate.

Plus, there are lots of tires down there, Loney said.

The debris removal, being conducted by a crew manning earth moving equipment floating on two large barges, is expected to take as long as a month, and will occur on week days between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Then, next year, the dredging of the canal's tar-packed bottom can begin, though the agency doesn't have an estimate for when that process will get underway. The dredging is expected to be done by 2018. After that, the EPA will turn to the next two segments of the canal, with all debris removal and dredging expected to be done by 2022.

The EPA says it will recycle whatever debris it can, and send the rest to landfills. The toxic sediment pulled up will be treated and disposed off.

With work underway, the agency has set up air monitoring equipment around the canal's work site to ensure dangerous material isn't polluting the air. And during this first phase of the work, the EPA will close down a stretch of the walkway between Whole Foods and the canal to make sure water sprayed on debris doesn't come into contact with pedestrians.

On Monday, Marleen Donnelly, a Gowanus resident and a member of local environmental activist group Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, watched with others as the work on the canal got began.

"To see them actually move forward is exciting," Donnelly said, adding that she wants the EPA to make sure anything it removes is evaluated for historical significance.

After all, she continued, despite its modern reputation, the canal has historical significance in and of itself.

"It used to be a hub for everything that built Brooklyn," Donnelly said. "Brooklyn," she said, "would not be Brooklyn" without it.

An air monitoring machine, center.

Pictured at top: debris removal gets underway. Photos by John V. Santore