Gowanus Superfund Update: EPA Ready To Begin Phase 2 Of Pilot Study At Fourth Street Basin Near Whole Foods

Christos Tsiamis

EPA Senior Project Manager for the Gowanus Superfund

Brian Carr, EPA Region 2 Legal Council

Doug Sarno, Gowanus Canal CAG facilitator

4th Street Basin next to Whole Foods in Gowanus

Get ready to see a lot of activity on the Gowanus Canal related to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund clean-up of our polluted waterway.

"We are at a point where the community will see work happening in the canal"
Christos Tsiamis, Senior Project Manager for the Gowanus Superfund site told members of the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group at its September meeting last night.

Tsiamis explained that the second phase of a Pilot Study will begin shortly at the 4th Street Turning Basin, located at the intersection of 4th Street and 3rd Avenue next to the Gowanus Whole Foods. The work will comprise dredging the toxic black sediment at the bottom of the basin and capping it to prevent recontamination. The results of this work will inform EPA and help fine-tune different techniques that will eventually be applied to the entire canal.

You may remember that the first phase of the Pilot Study was carried out in October 2016 and consisted of clearing obstructions from the basin which obstructed navigational access.  (for photos of the intriguing objects and material dredged up can be found here.)

Starting next week,  equipment will be moved into the 4th Street Basin.  By October 5th, preparatory dredging will take place  to create enough depth in the basin so that barges can be moved further onto the site.  At the end of October,  both shores of the basin will be stabilized with bulkheads, and by the first week in December,  the actual dredging will begin.  

"The dredging will take at least two months," Tsiamis told CAG members. 

It will be followed by placing the cap.

"The entire pilot study will take us to the end of April, beginning of May," Tsiamis explained.

During the study, as throughout the entire clean-up process, the EPA will use Public Place, the large City-owned site at Smith Street and Huntington Street, as a staging area.

EPA Region 2 will prepare an official fact sheet shortly that will inform the community of the schedule for this work. As soon as we receive a copy, we will post it here.

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If You Have $34.99 To Spend On An Emu Egg, Gowanus Whole Foods Would Like To Sell You One

As seen at the egg bar at Third and Third  Gowanus Whole Foods Store

Yup.  Whole Foods Gowanus sells eggs from New Jersey emus at $34.99 a pop.  Friend C., who took the photo and was kind enough to let me use it here, writes:
"I'm at a loss here other than this is a Seinfeld episode waiting to happen. Do people really think, 'Gee, think I'll run out for a quart of milk and an emu egg?' "

Perhaps.  These days, anything seems possible.

Apparently, one emu egg is the equivalent of a dozen chicken eggs.  Personally, I would never consider buying a dozen eggs for $34.99.  Which means that the only reason you would spend this much for one egg is because you want to really seem pretentious the next time you invite people over for brunch.

I always thought that emu eggs are actually green.  But what do I know.  

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