A Visit To EPA's Region 2 Gowanus Canal Field Office

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The EPA Region 2 field office on Bond Street

Christos Tsiamis, EPA Region 2 Project Manager for the Gowanus Canal

Scientist with Gowanus Canal samples

Sections of sediment core samples taken from bottom of Gowanus Canal.

Note the black coal tar in top two sections.

The dark portions are the coal tar sediment

Coal tar is found in the top 8 to 10 feet of the Gowanus Canal's sediment.

Samples ready to be shipped to lab for analysis

A bathymetric map of the Gowanus Canal area

Christos Tsiamis talking about the Gowanus Canal to students from Parsons School of Design

Parsons Students With Christos Tsiamis in field office

Munsell Soil Color Charts used by scientists to classify and describe soil

On Wednesday afternoon, I had the great pleasure of visiting the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 2 field office on Bond Street between Sackett and Union Street.

Christos Tsiamis, the agency's Gowanus Canal project manager, showed me around and told me about the work currently being performed on the polluted waterway.

For the last few weeks, sediment core samples have been collected from the bottom of the Gowanus Canal in 20 foot industrial plastic tubes. After collection, the tubes are cut open lengthwise and the sediment is examined at different depths.

Mr. Tsiamis showed me one of the 20 foot cylindrical sediment cores. The top first eight to ten feet were thick, black coal tar which emitted a petroleum smell. The bottom half of the core sample is the native sediment, which has a sandy consistency and is light brown in color. It is the black layer that will have to be dredged from the bottom of the waterway. To say that this looked like very scary stuff would be an understatement. Cross sections of the sediment core are sent to a lab to determine exactly how far down the pollution reaches.

Christos and I were joined by a group of Parsons School Of Design students who are currently working on a project about the Gowanus and its clean-up. Since I graduated from Parsons, it was thrilling to meet them and to see the canal through their eyes. One of the students told me that she is excited to have the opportunity to combine science with art.
I hope that the students will allow me to show their projects to the community by posting them on this site.
I would like to thank Christos Tsiamis for taking the time to talk to me about the field work currently being performed, for showing me around the field office and for introducing me to his crew.