The Repulsive Research by Jannessa Alexandre

The Repulsive Research

The Disgusting Arrival

It was around  9 a.m. when the eighth grade students of Brooklyn Collaborative Studies were walking down 3rd Street, to do some research on the Gowanus Canal on , the area began to look more and more deserted. There weren’t as many stores, or people around. In other words, there wasn’t much scenery. After a few more minutes of walking, not only did the students start to get tired, but some, or most per say, started to get agitated by the odor. Some plugged their noses so they could avoid that horrendous smell. A few were even gagging in disgust, probably an overreaction, but that abysmal stench could make anyone physically sick. The eighth graders finally reached their destination, they stopped at the very thing that was causing the unbearable smell. It was the greenish lake over the horizon. It was the Gowanus Canal.

Background The students returned back to the school at 10:35 a.m. to continue their research based off of the observations they recorded in their packets. Many of the students were talking about the stench on their observation sheet. One of the students, Vertyce Charles, described it to this reporter. “It smelled like gas,” she said. “It smelled as if someone had bombed the place.” But as deadly as it smells, the Gowanus Canal is pretty deadly and dangerous on its own as well. There was a man, Christopher Swaine, who was actually crazy enough to plunge into the murky depths of the canal. He did have a special suit and other special swim equipment.As he swam some water got into his mouth,however he didn’t drink the water. “The water tasted like a combination of mud,feces,detergent,gas,sand, and surprisingly gas, thus the green tint in the water.” With the canal containing manure,coal, mud, and other unsightly debris, this reporter can safely say that the Gowanus Canal is a sewer system. So how did the Gowanus Canal, a lake that was made in the mid 1800s that was used for traveling goods, turn into to a lake that was proven unsafe to even swim in years later? The cause for this is sewage overflow. During turbulent weather, the sewage pipe can’t regulate both the wastewater(from toilets, showers, sinks,etc) and the storm water so the wastewater gets dumped into the waterways. Yeah, that’s what happens to your excrements when you’re finished flushing in the bathroom. And that’s also why the canal is infested with germs and deadly diseases like typhoid, an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on the chest and abdomen followed by severe irritation in the intestines, typhus, an infectious disease caused by rickettsia(genus nonmotile, bacteria), and cholera, an infectious bacterial disease of the small intestine usually caused by infected water supply. This all started back in 1961 when the pump used to flush fresh water into canal, broke.

An Appalling Aftermath

Imagine being trapped in the sewer with nothing to eat or drink but the sewer water. That’s just like taking even a drink from the dirty depths of the Gowanus Canal themselves.Because of all the deadly diseases, drinking this water can give gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease and dysentery, an inflammation in the lower intestine, usually accompanied  by bloody diarrhea.  

Wild Life

The canal has also been affecting wildlife as well. According to the article ‘A Brief History of Slime?’ by Christopher Bonanos, creatures like white perch, crabs, jellyfish, herring and anchovies were surprisingly found in these. Many sea creatures found their way into the canal and died. “In 2007, a minke whale, swam into the canal, beached itself, and died,” (Bonanos). So, as you can see, this canal is contaminant even for the wildlife. Creatures can not survive in it due to the chemicals and diseases in it.

It’s Time That Something Was Done

  There has been multiple things that have been done to stop the combined sewage overflow problem. Former Mayor, Michael Bloomberg and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that the majority of the muck to be dredged. Dredging is when mud from either a river, seabed, or harbor, etc, is brought up by scooping or dragging. According to A Brief History of Slime, some areas were going to have heavy clay laid over some parts, in order for the bad stuff to be sealed. Lastly, there was another idea that involves a wetland functioning like a sponge. GCC, Christine Petro, said that it was called Sponge park. Petro said; “Sponge Park was designed to prevent stormwater runoff, reducing the rainwater in the sewer system. As you may imagine, multiple things are being done to divert combined sewage overflow. So many people do not know about this situation. Which is why it is vital for everyone to stay informed, because the smallest contribution could have a great impact. It’s time that you did something!