Gowanus Canal Sewage Overflow

By Joseph Tellez

In the 1840s the Gowanus canal opened  it was an industrial site. The Gowanus canal is is located on Brooklyn close to Red Hook and Gowanus . The canal is also known as a superfund site. Superfund means it is protected by the government and planning on fixing or cleaning the place .There were factories around the canal. which meant garbage, which lead to pollution around Gowanus canal lots of companies dumped inside the Gowanus canal, The pollution inside the canal contained  lead and  viruses. Factories thought it was ok to dump into the Gowanus canal, what they did not know is that later on it would affect the community and the wildlife environment. The canal is a transportation center for goods ,The canal became a dumping center in the 1848. Lots of factories like ink factories would polluted the canal, they felt a freedom of polluting the Gowanus canal.There is lots of stuff deep inside the canal including lead,gasoline and all sorts of viruses. the consequences that affect the Gowanus community is the bad rotten bad smell. And bad wildlife habitat,luckily the government is helping to make a change on the canal they are working on trying to make the canal clean again. According to [swimmer braves stinky New york city canal water on earth day] by scientific American  ”i don't even worry about being in the water” Christopher swain is trying to say he would like to see the canal clean enough for someone to swim on This problem has been going on for along time, it affects the community by the harsh smell of oil,bacteria,gasoline,trash,excrement. later on in the future this might turn into a huge problem if they don't fix or clean the canal. Some people and groups are trying to clean the canal. For example the “United States Environmental Protection Agency”  the EPA had declared it a superfund site on the 2010 because from all the coal tar inside the canal . They are planing on to dig hundreds of thousands tons of muck then incinerate it by 2022. Another good idea to  clean the canal would be too tell the community to help out by not littering and to not use cleaning products during rainy  days  because the sewage system overflows and sometimes it goes inside the canal.

This would be a good idea because it shows the community on how to keep it nice and clean. If they were to clean the canal in the future the canal might be clean enough to maybe drink. People would be able to swim and see wildlife be itself. by Joseph tellez