Lots of Attention on the Gowanus Canal

The Gowanus Canal is certainly a hot topic of conversation these days. Folks want to get the the place cleaned up, and there is plenty of government attention at the city, state and federal level. As many people already know, the Environmental Protection Agency added the canal to the Superfund National Priorities List last April. But the city is proposing a cleanup plan of its own...

They proposed an alternative approach that the E.P.A. has sometimes used that would allow polluters to voluntarily pay for the cleanup under binding agreements. To help bring them to the table, the officials said, the Army Corps of Engineers could complete a feasibility study it has already begun that calls for the corps’s own environmental restoration project at the canal. Such an effort would be eligible for separate federal funding and could reduce the ultimate price tag for the polluters.

As for that Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study, it looks like some funding for that has been secured. From a July 18th story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved $300,000 in federal resources for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study currently underway at the Gowanus Canal and Bay.

In the meantime, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy is spearheading an effort to improve water quality by building a Sponge Park along the banks:

Construction on the Sponge Park is scheduled to begin this fall. Supporters hope it will lead to cleaner and better smelling water along the Gowanus Canal.

It will be interesting to follow the progress of the various stakeholders over the next few years. Everyone wants the same thing...cleaner water and a healthy ecosystem.