NEW YORK—A new oxygenation system designed to reduce odors and improve the water quality of the notoriously foul-smelling Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn was unveiled on Monday.
For 26 months, the new system will add dissolved oxygen to the canal while the Flushing Tunnel undergoes an upgrade.
“This is a significant milestone,” said Cas Holloway, the Environmental Protection commissioner. “We’re going to be able to actually shut off the tunnel so we can get in there, fix it, and in two years when we turn it on again it will be much better than it was before.”
The system uses a single pump to draw water from the canal (about 10 million gallons a day) and sends it to a cone, mixing it with oxygen. Once the water is supersaturated, it is discharged back into the canal.
Kevin Clarke, division chief for waste water and infrastructure says the system helps maintain dissolved oxygen levels so as to reduce the odors from hydrogen sulfide. “You don’t want that rotten egg smell that you would typically get if dissolved oxygen dropped to zero.”
Additionally, by increasing the pumping capacity to the Red Hook Wastewater Treatment plant located on the Lower East River, the project will help reduce sewer overflows.
“The activation of this aeration system marks a major milestone that will enable us to begin the rehabilitation of the Flushing Tunnel,” said Commissioner Holloway in a release.
Reduced floatable debris, combined sewer overflows, and an increase of dissolved oxygen in the canal are expected by the time the project is complete in 2013.
The Gowanus Canal, which empties into New York Harbor, was completed in 1869. Through the years, mills, chemical plants, and tanneries shaped the landscape along the canal. In March of this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the canal to the Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List, a federal government program highlighting hazardous waste sites.
“Though the road to a clean and rejuvenated canal is long, we have never been so close,” said Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation Executive Director Bill Appel in a statement.
For 26 months, the new system will add dissolved oxygen to the canal while the Flushing Tunnel undergoes an upgrade.
“This is a significant milestone,” said Cas Holloway, the Environmental Protection commissioner. “We’re going to be able to actually shut off the tunnel so we can get in there, fix it, and in two years when we turn it on again it will be much better than it was before.”
The system uses a single pump to draw water from the canal (about 10 million gallons a day) and sends it to a cone, mixing it with oxygen. Once the water is supersaturated, it is discharged back into the canal.
Kevin Clarke, division chief for waste water and infrastructure says the system helps maintain dissolved oxygen levels so as to reduce the odors from hydrogen sulfide. “You don’t want that rotten egg smell that you would typically get if dissolved oxygen dropped to zero.”
Additionally, by increasing the pumping capacity to the Red Hook Wastewater Treatment plant located on the Lower East River, the project will help reduce sewer overflows.
“The activation of this aeration system marks a major milestone that will enable us to begin the rehabilitation of the Flushing Tunnel,” said Commissioner Holloway in a release.
Reduced floatable debris, combined sewer overflows, and an increase of dissolved oxygen in the canal are expected by the time the project is complete in 2013.
The Gowanus Canal, which empties into New York Harbor, was completed in 1869. Through the years, mills, chemical plants, and tanneries shaped the landscape along the canal. In March of this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the canal to the Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List, a federal government program highlighting hazardous waste sites.
“Though the road to a clean and rejuvenated canal is long, we have never been so close,” said Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation Executive Director Bill Appel in a statement.
