A Million Gallons of Water Per Year, Feeding Plants Instead of the Gowanus

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — The Gowanus Canal's latest green infrastructure investment was officially unveiled on Friday: a "sponge park" that will absorb a million gallons of storm water each year, preventing it from flowing into the city's combined sewer system where it would otherwise help push raw sewage into the canal.

The $1.5 million project, complete with seating areas, and adjacent to the esplanade and boat dock outside the neighborhood's new Lightstone development where 2nd Street meetings the canal, was the work of multiple city agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Design and Construction (DDC).

A drain leading to the sponge park

DDC commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora said the park will help provide "a new narrative to the Gowanus canal," one defined by environmental responsibility and sustainability.

"It's about the legacy of a clean canal that will be shared by so many families," said Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who represents Gowanus.

Gowanus Councilman Brad Lander said the canal was no longer capable of supporting life as early as 1905, about 50 years after it was constructed.

"It took us about a century to get serious about doing something about it," he said.

"While it might just look like a rain garden," Lander continued, referring to the sponge park, "it's a big deal."

Unveiling the sponge park on Friday

The sponge park is one of 2,500-such water-absorbing infrastructure projects in operation city-wide, said acting DEP commissioner Vincent Sappienza, with thousands more in development.

Susannah Drake, a principal at dlandstudio, the design firm behind the sponge park, said her company has identified about 10 other locations in Gowanus were similar infrastructure could be built.

And Andrea Parker, the executive director of the Gowanus Alliance, which will maintain the park, said projects like it are already helping to educate school children about sustainable design and environmental stewardship.

On Thursday, the Gowanus Community Planning Process got underway, an effort to incorporate community input into the city's development plan for the neighborhood.

The next public meeting as part of that project will take place on Dec. 8 (at a time and location to be announced later), and will focus on environmental sustainability and resiliency.

Pictured at top: the second avenue sponge park. Photos by John V. Santore