Floods, Blackouts Renew Gowanus Call For Environmental Protection

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — A week of blackouts and extreme flooding has only further confirmed that Gowanus needs serious protections from health hazards and sewage overflow from its toxic canal that will only worsen as climate change continues, advocates said this week.

The Gowanus Neighborhood Coaltion for Justice is renewing a call to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city to designate Gowanus as an "Environmental Special District" in its plans to rezone the neighborhood.

The designation would prevent the sewage overflow from the toxic Gowanus Canal from getting worse, create a tree canopy to stop certain blocks from becoming "heat islands" and provide support so the neighborhood could be more prepared for emergencies, such as the Monday night flooding that turned its Fourth Avenue into a lake.

“With the right leadership from the City, the unique challenges in Gowanus — one of the most polluted waterbodies and neighborhoods in the country — could be the impetus for cultivating a groundbreaking green neighborhood," said Andrea Parker, a member of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. "The Mayor must commit to policy and funding solutions to address combined sewage overflow and flooding so that additional density does not further pollute the Canal."

Right now, the group said, the absence of tree canopies from Fourth Avenue to Bond Street create "heat islands" that exacerbate the health hazards of heat waves for its residents. Those heatwaves, like the one that caused power outages and subway chaos over the weekend, will only get worse as climate change continues, they said.

The group also contended that the flooding seen on Fourth Avenue on Monday is actually a longstanding problem for businesses and residents on that corridor. More than routine storm drain cleaning is needed to resolve these issues given the "high water table" and the underground springs throughout the neighborhood, residents said.

The call for the special designation comes as the city is considering a dramatic rezoning of the neighborhood that could bring as many as 20,000 new residents to Gowanus.

Advocates have repeatedly said they are concerned how the rezoning might cause further flooding to contamination to the 1.8-mile canal, especially as it is undergoing a federal clean-up.

The Environmental Protection Agency began the long process of cleaning up the 1.8-mile canal, which it has designated as a hazardous Superfund site, about two years ago with a pilot project at the Fourth Street Basin that scooped 17,000 cubic yards of toxic muck from the waterway.

But dredging the remainder of the canal isn't expected to start until 2020, with the entire clean-up not scheduled to wrap up until 2027.

Activists worry that new development along the waterway promised in the rezoning plan could make it so the sewage overflow in the canal will never be completely eliminated.

City officials have argued that the Gowanus Rezoning will actually protect the communities along the waterfront, given that the plan requires developers to include "climate-resilient" protections in their buildings and that the neighborhood revamp will help move environmental remediation forward.