Jimmy Gales        Trouble In The Gowanus Canal                                                                                                                                     10/28

Combined Sewage Overflow In The Gowanus Canal

In Brooklyn New York lies the Gowanus Canal one of the most polluted bodies of waters in the United States. You may be wondering how can this be? Its because of the sewer system New York has called Combined sewage overflow (CSO). This system was made in the mid 1900s. This system was made to prevent sewage treatment plants from getting damage. Whats a sewage treatment plant you ask? A sewage treatment plant is where your waste goes to get purified into water so they clean the water and that water goes back to your sink so your and and shower and your waste is used to make so kind of soil. So a sewage treatment plant is what we need if not most of our water will be human waste so we don't want to damage treatment plants. How can they get damage? Well on a dry day all the waste goes down into the sewers and then goes to the treatment plant which can handle all that  waste but on a rainy day the pipes are

overflowing from the storm drain and that's too much for the treatment plant and it can get damage. Take note that the treatment plant is getting the waste of everybody in New York.

The History of The Gowanus Canal

So talking more about the Gowanus Canal in 1849 is when the canal was deepin into a waterway for boats to send goods. According to an article,by Vicky Gan at the time sewer  systems were being placed they had a choice to go with a separated or combined sewers. Many went with Combined sewers because it was cheaper at the time. It was not till the 20th century that engineers realized that a separate stormwater drain had to be installed in order to keep bodies of water clean. But it was too late for some cities including New york to get the news because they have already installed Combined sewage overflow systems in their city.

Why Should I Care?

You might be say “why should I care about Combined sewage overflow if it doesn't affect me?” “All the sewage goes to a closed body of water.” Well that's where you're wrong because the Gowanus canal is where all that sewage goes. The Gowanus Canal is connected the Atlantic ocean so your waste is going to the ocean. Ok so we still have water treatment plants that cleans my water. Well people swim in the ocean in the hot days but the water will be too polluted for people to swim. Its also a danger to ocean life because the ocean will be uninhabitable for life to survive.

What Is Being Done?

So what is being done to end this problem? Currently people are planning on cleaning the Gowanus canal and the government noticed the problem so they are involved as well. They plan on making a sponge park out of the canal. The sponge park will be made with plants with sponge like properties to suck in the oil spills and anything that pollutes the canal. It will only help the canal stay clean of oils spills  but not help with the sewage. So if don’t make separated sewers then this clean up won’t matter because when it rains sewage will go into the canal again. Well we do know that it won’t be cheap and it won’t be easy but it looks like we don’t have another choice.