Coal Tar In The Gowanus Canal

Coal Tar In The Gowanus Canal

By: Maryory Martinez

New Tourist Attraction?

Niagara Falls, the Statue Of Liberty, Yellowstone National Park, and now the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn? There has been a new addition to the list of grand tourist attractions in the United States. A very peculiar one. Unlike other tourist attractions, the Gowanus Canal isn't gaining publicity and tourists because of its "beauty" or its "history." The Gowanus canal isn't beautiful and that's exactly what's luring people there. The foul smell. The filthy green water. The disgusting coal tar hidden in the depths of that water. That is luring people there. But people seem to ignore the obvious problem that the canal is facing. It's November 2015 and the coal tar is still in the canal and continues contaminate the water and the environment around it.

Severely Polluted Water

Since the late 1800s, factories and waste treatment plants would get rid of their wastes in the Gowanus Canal (Clean Water Act of 1972). Slowly, this resulted in the accumulation of coal tar on the canal's floor, severely polluting the water. Coal tar is a thick black liquid produced by the refining of coal that carries hazardous chemicals such as benzene, anthracene, and phenol (Dictionary.com). This makes the canal unsafe for recreational activities such as swimming and fishing or simply being too close to the water. “What lives in the Gowanus is the most toxic bath of chemicals you can imagine,” said Dr. Robert Glatter of Lenox Hill Hospital.

The Consequences

What's so dangerous about coal tar? Many people that live near the Gowanus Canal aren't well informed of the serious effects of coal tar. Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hills, and Park Slope residents don't know how terrible coal tar is for their health and well-being. Coal tar contains approximately 10,000 unsafe chemicals, of which only about 50% have been identified (World Health Organization). The World Health Organization also explains that the chemicals within the coal tar can cause many severe illnesses and, in some cases, even death. “It is a known fact that this is a cause of certain cancers,” said Bill Appel, the Gowanus group’s executive director. Now that is what makes coal tar so dangerous.

What Now?

Finally, after years of protests and complaints, the Government declared the Gowanus Canal a “Superfund” site. A Superfund site is any land in the United States that has been polluted by hazardous waste and has drawn the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes it a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment (United States National Library of Medicine). According to a decision made by the Federal Government in 2010, the entire canal will be clean from coal tar by 2022. This decision was a huge step in the right direction.