Gowanus Canal Cleanup To Begin Soon: Reports

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Cleanup — real, actual cleanup — is set to begin soon at the Gowanus Canal, the site's project manager told a community meeting this week, according to report.

Crews will begin scooping toxic muck from the bottom of the canal's Fourth Street Basin in December, the EPA's Christos Tsiamis told the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group on Tuesday night.

"I don’t know if you realize this folks, but this is the real deal," Tsiamis said, according to DNAinfo. "For the first time in well over a century there will be a portion of the canal with a brand new bottom."

Here's how DNAinfo describes the cleanup process:

The extricated sediment will be used to cover landfills in Pennsylvania and chunks containing too much liquid tar will be sent to facilities in New Jersey that will burn them away. Muck left out overnight will be covered with a tarp or sprayed with foam to soak up the smell, Himmelheber said.

The dredging will be followed by a process known as capping that will lay two feet of sand, clay and other granular materials to prevent contaminants from migrating up into the water. The uppermost section of the barrier will be an "armor layer that provides hydrodynamic stability" to the canal's bottom, noted Himmelheber.

Once that is finished, expected around April or May, officials will analyze the results and determine how to proceed from there to clean up the rest of the canal, according to Pardon Me For Asking, a local blog run by a CAG member.

"You dreamt about a clean Gowanus, we dreamt of a clean Gowanus. We would like for the community to pass around the news," Tsiamis told the group.

Click here to read more from DNAinfo.

Click here to read more from Pardon Me For Asking.

Image: Patch file photo