Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Group Water Quality Discussion Material, March 2012

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photos: Eymund Diegel, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, February 2011, Coal Tar picture by Pericles, February 2011

GOWANUS CANAL SUPERFUND SITE COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP WATER QUALITY DISCUSSION MATERIAL

DEAD STRIPED BASS AT UNION STREET BRIDGE

CONDOM FROM COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW, FLOATING AT AT 2ND STREET CANOE DOCK

COAL TAR OIL SLICK ON GOWANUS CANAL WATER AT CITIZENS GAS PLANT, HUNTINGTON STREET & GOWANUS CANAL


for questions about this map e-mail eymund@gmail.com

RH-005 152 mg

GOWANUS CANAL SUPERFUND SITE COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP WATER QUALITY COMMITTEE March 2012

0

WATER QUALITY CLASSIFICATIONS

2,000 ft

This is a DRAFT map intended for discussion only, and may require corrections

SD I SC

Water Quality Classes are based on how much poop is in water, the oxygen in the water (the more poop the less oxygen) and industrial contaminants

WHERE DOES SEWAGE IN CANALCOME FROM ?

0 mg

FLU

SHI

NG

RH-028 96 mg

Gowanus Canal water is Class “SD” (the worst possible)

Flushing Tunnel Pump Station

TUN

NEL

RH-034 (PARK SLOPE) (at end of Canal)

34 %

RH-035 (CARROLL GARDENS) (end of Bond St)

OH-005 (at Carroll St Bridge)

32 %

(+ RH33, 36,37,38 along Nevins Street )

less than 1 %

OH-007 (PARK SLOPE) (end of 2nd Ave)

RH-031 (RED HOOK) (at BQE Bridge) RH-030 18.2 mg

Fish Survival Fishing and Boating Fishing, Boating and Bathing, (but not after heavy rains) Fishing Boating and Bathing Shellfishing, Fishing, Boating and Bathing

SB SA

RH-018 4 mg

RH-019 14 mg

suitable for:

WATER QUALITY CLASS

The East River water is Class “I” (suitable for fishing and boating) in 2013, the Flushing Tunnel will bring this water into Canal

RH-020

Red Hook Sewage Plant

21 %

10 %

OH-006 (SUNSET PARK) (at Mouth of Canal)

After 2013, Tunnel will help tides flush sewage out to harborOH-024 23.4 mg and improve Canal OH-023 1 mg water quality

3%

THE GOWANUS WATERSHED POURS 353 MILLION GALLONS OF SEWAGE INTO THE HARBOR EVERY YEAR

Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Outlets with how many millions of gallons per year of diluted raw sewage they dump into the river. CSOs dumping into Gowanus Canal are expressed as a % of the total 353 million gallons of sewage the Canal recieves every year (2007/08 NYCDEP data supplied to the Superfund 2011 Feasibility Study)

Historic coal tar plants causing oil sheens in Canal

GOWANUS CANAL WATERSHED

After 2013, Tunnel will reduce Canal sewage from a million gallons per day, to 660,000. This will improve Water Quality, but is it good enough ?

WATER QUALITY RECLASSIFICATION DISCUSSION MAP

353 million gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Gowanus Canal every year because of RAINWATER getting into the sewers. Along with industrial WHAT ARE SOLLUTIONS ? pollution, this has caused the Gowanus Canal is classified as “Class SD” - the worst water quality possible.

SOURCE DIVERSION - Rain could be reabsorbed into our back yards,

GREY INFRASTRUCTURE - Rebuild old sewers, for example

SEPARATED INFRASTRUCTURE - The City and the State could also

By getting the Gowanus Canal water quality reclassified from Class SD (the worst water quality) to Class SC (suitable for swimming) would require the City to rebuild damaged sewers (the Bond Lorraine Sewer Main) and set higher standards for Green Infrastructure. Asking for the Canal to be classified as Class I would not require any new investments, as the Flushing Tunnel will be bringing Class I water after 2013. The tunnel will improve Gowanus Canal water quality, but will do nothing to reduce sewage going out to the bay.

playgrounds and parks through “Green” Infrastructure, to reverse local residents and the City’s habit of covering the rain permeable soil with concrete, which causes rainwater to go into overloaded sewers. Source Diversion would include building rain holding cisterns in City Parks and School Yards, and large apartment buildings, (like the cisterns at the 3rd & Bond Housing Development.)

direct more rainwater directly to the Canal by allowing property owners next to Canal to discharge roof drains directly into Canal, and by directing street runoff directly to the Canal via “Sponge Parks”. More “High Level Storm Sewers” could also be built, like the one currently planned for 3rd Avenue. New Storm Sewers on Bond Street and 2nd Avenue should also be built. Based on their sewer impact %, these will have a greater impact on Canal sewage than the planned 3rd Avenue High Level Storm Sewer.

removing the 53” sewer bottleneck at the end of Bond Street , and diverting historic streams that may be connecting to sewer mains via french drains. Building sewer overflow retention tanks either in the Canal or near adjacent properties (eg Public Place) near the combined sewer overflows has also been proposed.


Boerum Hill

LU EW AY

t

Hanson

PS 38

DA VE

PS 133

PS 282

Byrne Park

PS 321 John Jay High School

t

4th

Park Slope

Prospect Park

0

at

e

Hw

y2

os pe

St

7

Pr

Sunset Park

ct P

ark

Ave

Gowanus

PS 372

Prospect Heights

We s

OH-007 21%

Pl

1892 Greene Ave 10 ft diameter Storm Sewer (first failed attempt at a storm sewer )

3R

OH-005 less than 1%

St

Av e 4T H AV EB LU EW AY

AV EB LU EW AY

3rd

Clinton Hill

R

ST B ND BO

nS

H (PR IGH L OP EV OS EL ED ST BY ORM DE P) SEW E

St

T.G. Park

yt S t ton

mil

2N D

ST

BLU

EW AY

bottleneck

ITH SM

Fort Greene

Wyckoff

PS 32

RH-35 32%

Ha

RH-31 10%

sto

RH-34 34%

Ho

Carroll Gardens St Mary’s Playground

t

NEL

Carroll Park / PS 58

PS 146

Red Hook

TUN

ith

NG

Sm

SHI

PS 261 Wy cko ff S t Gowanus S.G.S Playground

Cou rt S

FLU

Boerum Park

ing

Ave Waverly

Cobble Hill

Liv

2,000 ft

you can e-mail eymund@gmail.com, Eymund Diegel for map data

RH-35 - 34% Combined Sewage Gowanus Watershed General Drainage Direction Worst CSOs with Percentage Overflow Outlet (CSO) Historic Wetland and Flood Zone of 330 million gallons of diluted sewage that the CSO dumps Existing / Proposed DEP/NYSDEC Potential Storm Sewer or Bioswale Corridor into Canal every year Green Infrastructure Project Potential Sewage Holding Tank Site Potential Waterfront Rain Park Site Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Group Potential City Green Infrastructure Opportunity Bond Street Sewer Water Quality Committee (Cistern or Rain Garden) DRAFT MAP FOR DISCUSSION ONLY - JANUARY 2012 Bottleneck

Potential Gowanus Watershed Combined Sewage Overflow Reduction Projects


Ongoing Opportunities Analyses

Existing green infrastructure and publicly-owned properties within RH-034 and OH-007 drainage areas.

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A MILLION GALLONS PER DAY OF SEWAGE GO INTO THE CANAL




Combined Sewer Overflows in the Gowanus Canal, Near Union Street Bridge - 19 April 2011 Don Wildman, a host of the the popular TV show “The Travel Channel” shows off a paddle load of combined sewer overflows. The Gowanus Canal receives about a million gallons per day of diluted raw sewage, concentrated on rainy days. This translates to 5 truckloads per years of “solids” filling up the bottom of the Canal. These solids include coagulated restaurant grease, feminine hygiene napkins, condoms, and plain old human poop. The paddle is courtesy of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, a local boating group dedicated to restoring the Gowanus Canals water quality and recording improvements brought by local Community and Government groups.


You can access pictures of the Gowanus Canal’s range of water qualities how people use the Gowanus Canal as a recreational amenity at the Superfund Community Advisory Group - Proteus Gowanus Canal Image Archive. http://www.flickr.com/photos/51802375@N04/sets/72157629540684629/



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