(photo above courtesy of Elizabeth Kenney)
For the past few years, a thick black pipe has been floating on the surface of the highly polluted Gowanus Canal. It was installed in the winter of 2010 by Northeast Remsco, a contractor for the NYC Department Of Environmental Protection, and was meant to help aerate the canal while the flushing tunnel system and wastewater pumping station at the head of the Gowanus Facilities station where being upgraded.
It is questionable if the pipe ever actually performed as planned, but now that the flushing tunnel is fully operational once more, it is finally getting dismantled and removed.
The photo above of crews lifting a section of a pipe out of the murky water at the Union Street Bridge was taken yesterday by Gowanus resident Elizabeth Kenney.
The work must have been particularly unpleasant for the crew yesterday. After a heavy morning rainfall, which caused a Combined Overflow event, the Gowanus was nastier than usual and the smell was overwhelming.
Below is a photo I took yesterday of the pipe surrounded by raw sewage.
The work must have been particularly unpleasant for the crew yesterday. After a heavy morning rainfall, which caused a Combined Overflow event, the Gowanus was nastier than usual and the smell was overwhelming.
Below is a photo I took yesterday of the pipe surrounded by raw sewage.
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3 comments:
drain it. clean it. fill it in.
My toilet is cleaner than the Gow-anus, and that's before I flush it.
Glad to see the workman in some minimal protective covering. Would expect more protection, on the lines of those who took a dive into the canal in the TedX thing.
But with the pipes gone, the sewage won't get trapped as much so the new operating Flushing Tunnel can get on with flushing that yuck out to Red Hook.
What a lovely system they have going here!
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