Gowanus Canal

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The Gowanus Canal (originally known as Gowanus Creek) is a 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Once a vital cargo transportation hub, the canal has seen decreasing use since the mid-20th century as domestic shipping declined. It continues to be used for occasional movement of goods and daily navigation of small boats, tugs, and barges. It is among the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. Connected to Gowanus Bay in Upper New York Bay, the Gowanus Canal borders the neighborhoods of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, and Gowanus, all within South Brooklyn, to the west; Park Slope to the east; Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill to the north; and Sunset Park to the south. Seven bridges or viaducts cross the canal, carrying, from north to south, Union Street, Carroll Street, Third Street, the New York City Subway's Culver Viaduct, Ninth Street, Hamilton Avenue, and the Gowanus Expressway. The canal was created in the mid-19th century from local tidal wetlands and freshwater streams. For roughly a century, heavy industrial use poured pollutants into the canal. Various attempts to remove the pollution or dilute the canal's water have failed. High ratios of fecal coliforms, deadly proportions of pathogens, and a low concentration of oxygen have left it generally incompatible with macroscopic marine life, although a variety of extremophiles have been observed in the canal. Despite the canal's heavy pollution, its proximity to Manhattan and upper-class Brooklyn neighborhoods is attracting concerted waterfront redevelopment. This has restarted calls for environmental cleanup, and prompted concerns that adjacent waterfront economic development would be incompatible with environmental restoration and environmental risks. It was designated a Superfund site in 2009, and work to clean up the canal began in 2013.