WATER QUALITY- As Regulated by NY State Standards

Most reasonable people think of clean water as water that you can touch and splash in without any risk to your health. But under the Clean Water Act of 1972, clean water is defined based on the water's use classification. The Gowanus water is classified at the lowest level, one suited for a body of water that receives excessive sewage flow.

Under the current canal Water Quality Classification (class-SD) there are no regulatory limits on the level of pathogen released in this canal from untreated sewage flowing into the canal from many Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) located in this narrow canal. So long as a minimum level of dissolved oxygen in maintained the water, the City of New York can, and does, state that this water id “clean”. NY State Clean Water regulations place no limits to the level of pathogens that can be dispersed into the canal from sewage flow. (Yes, Clean Water is a relative term when in comes to NY State’s interpretation of the Federal Clean Water Act.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzWOOqPAEgs

The city has recently rehabilitated the 1911 Flushing Tunnel that brings water from the East River to the north end of the canal. This twelve foot diameter water tunnel was designed to connect the stagnate headwaters of the canal to the East River to improve water circulation. After a partial rehab in 1998, the Tunnel was shut down in 2010, and the a new water pumping system installed which now aerates the water as it pumps, raising the level of dissolved oxygen in the water. In addition the city replaced a damaged 30” diameter sewage pipe running inside the tunnel, which carries sewage draining from the Atlantic Yards area, away from the canal over to the East River where the sewage is pumped up to the Brooklyn Navy Yard treatment plant.

But without a water quality classification that imposes limits on the levels of pathogens in the canal water, can we really ever claim the water in the canal is clean? The community uses these waters for fishing. The community has been using this canal for light boat recreation to meet Open Space needs. The water standard needs to be brought into line with the actual community use. The State of New York and the EPA need to reclassify the Gowanus to standards that impose institutional controls on pathogen levels. The water needs to be set to a standard that is protective of community health and the environment for all the uses that actually take place here.

(Addendum 2020: With the proposed 82 Block City-lead rezone of Gowanus, this is a far more critical issue. This could bring tens of thousands of new residents to the banks of this canal, making for a much more concentrated sewage loads in the sewers that will release even more loads of pathogen filled waste matter into the canal.
Any such rezone must come with a water-quality reclassification that mandates limits on pathogen levels as a matter of protecting Pubic Health and Environmental.)