The Gowanus Canal Trip

The Gowanus Canal
is one of the most pollutest bodies of water in New York City.At the beggining of the gowanus canal which is the Flushing Tunnel is a boom blocking waste from entering
the canal.This tunnel was built to flush waste from the canal to the East River.This problem was very foul.
Flushing Tunnel
J.D section 5

MAYRA'S IMPRESSIONS OF THE GOWANUS CANAL

ON MAY 3, 2005, WE WENT ON A FIELD TRIP TO THE GOWANUS CANAL. WE WORKED WITH AN ORGANIZATION OF
VOLUNTEER SCIENTIFIC DIVERS, WATERWAY STEWARDS, AND CITIZEN MONITORS, CALLED THE URBAN DIVERS. THEIR
WORK IS TO PROTECT, RESTORE, CONSERVE AND HELP OUR RIVERS, OCEANS, AND THE MARINE WILDLIFE THAT
LIVES IN THE NEW YORK HARBOR ESTUARY AND OTHER WATERWAYS. THEY ALSO HAVE PROGRAMS THAT PROVIDE
AND INFORM THE COMMUNITIES OF WHAT GOES ON THAT AFFECTS THE GOWANUS CANAL. MY IMMPRESSIONS OF THE GOWANUS CANAL COMPARED TO THE OTHER BODIES OF WATER THAT WE VISITED BEFORE , WAS DIFFERENT.THE OTHER WATERWAYS THAT WE WENT TO BEFORE WAS THE HUDSON RIVER , EAST RIVER, NEWTOWN CREEK, AND DEAD HORSE BAY. BUT THE GOWANUS CANAL WAS ALOT DIRTIER. IT HAD MORE OIL SLICKS AND ALOT OF FLOATABLE DEBRIS , AND ALOT OF TRASH AND LANDFILLS ALONG THE GOWANUS CANAL. BUT IT IS ALSO ALOT
BETTER THAN NEWTOWN CREEK BECAUSE THE NEWTOWN CREEK HAD ALOT OF OIL SPILLS AND NOT ALOT OF LIFE GOING ON. WE WENT ROWING DOWN THE GOWANUS CANAL AND WERE ABLE TO CATCH A SMALL FISH AND A JELLYFISH. WE WERE ALSO ABLE TO SEE ALOT OF BIRDS PASSING BY, WHICH WERE BIRDS SUCH AS THE GREAT EGRET THAT LIVES IN MARSHES, TIDAL FLATS,AND ESTUARIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA.WE ALSO SAW CANADIAN GOOSE THAT ARE MIGRATORY BIRDS THAT MIGRATE THROUGH NEW YORK. LASTLY, WE ALSO SAW RED- WINGED BLACKBIRDS. THIS ARE ALL GOOD SIGNS THAT THE GOWANUS CANAL IS IMPROVING. I REALLY HOPE THAT YOU CAN LEARN
SOMETHING FROM THIS EXPERIENCE.

BY:M.L. J

The Day at Gowanus Canal

The day I went to the Gowanus Canal, we took forever to get there. We took the L train and got off at Lorimer St. to transfer to the G train. We barely caught the G train. We had to get the conductor to hold the train for us. Then we took the train to almost the last stop. We got off at the second to last stop. Then we had to walk 3 blocks. On our walk there, almost all the houses we passed had a American flag outside. That neighborhood is so patriotic. When we finally got to the ate canal I didn't want to go to that dirty canal. When we got there it smelled like a dirty gas station's bathroom. It was nasty. Some man was diving in the canal checking to see if the foundation was good so a building could be built there. When we got there, we had to wait for a man named Ludger from The Urban Divers . He took forever. When Ludger finally got there, he started explaining about the canal. he gave us a brief presentation about the canal. He told us about the background, an its location on the map. After he finished giving his presentgation about the canal, we ate our lunch. After, we went rowing on the boat. I didn't want to go on the boat because I knew I was going to get wet. So I hustled Habiba while I had the chance to - I bet her that if I got on the boat, I would get wet. She said I wouldn't. As soon as I got on the boat I got wet because some students splashed water in the boat while they were rowing - he wet me with the paddle. We rowed to both ends of the canal. It is so dirty. We finally got off the boat and I told Habiba that I got wet. so I hustled her for $1 dollar. We did our journal and then answered all the questions in the packet. We put the boats back. We cleaned up then our day was over.
F.E.

Gowanus Canal Backgrounds - Life in the Gowanus

The Gowanus Canal was not always polluted. You can't really tell if it has life in or on it, but guess what, it does! The Gowanus Canal was once clean and had alot of life on, but to look at it now and you would feel bad for the critters that are still there. The life that is on the Gowanus Canal includes fish, ducks, birds and more. Though there were birds there weren't many fish. We know this because Urban Divers has put out minnow traps and when we checked them there were no fish at all. The Gowanus Canal also has lots of algae.

jaren's reflection

The Gowanus Canal is the most polluted body of water in the New York City and practically the whole country. The day I went we met some new people including Ludger and Mitsue. They are Urban Divers. They were talking about how the canal became polluted. When they finished talking we ate lunch for twenty minutes. When we finished, we had to help lift the row boats and put them in the water. After we put them in the water, everyone split up into sections. Each section had their own boat. Then we got in the boats. It was scary getting in the boat, because the boat kept rocking back and forth, but we managed to get in. The water had a foul smell. There were colorful things in the water - maybe it was oil. There were also floatables. Rowing was fun, until I got splashed with water. While we were rowing, we came upon a fish trap - but there were no fish in it.

Compared to the other places we visited in the New York Harbor, the Gowanus canal was the dirtiest place we visited.

Gowanus Canal Pollution Issues

The Gowanus Canal is one of the most polluted bodies of water in New York City.
At the beginning of the Gowanus Canal, which is the Flushing Tunnel,
there is a boom blocking waste and floatables from entering the canal. This tunnel was built to help flush the canal into the Upper New York Bay as result of horrible smell the stagnent water produced.

On Our Harbor Trip to the Gowanus Canal

On our Harbor Trip to the Gowanus Canal we had to take the L trian to Lorimer and transfer to the G train and take it South to Caroll St. Then walked about 5-3 blocks down 2nd St through a very pretty neighborhood. Once we got there we saw one of the workers of the Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy whose name is Ludger. He was standing there with the row boat (also known as John boats) that we all would go on. The first thing we had to do was stand in a circle and listen to the information that Lugder gave us about the Gowanus Canal and the issues affecting it Canal. When he finished we all sat down and had lunch. Then we all got ready to go on the boats by putting on PFDs (personal floatation devices), but first Ludger had to explian safety lessons for the boat. He explained wat to do and what not to do when we get into the boats. Then Ann annoced which groups we would be on the boats and which groups would stay on land while we were puting on our life jakects.when we were on the boat and on land we finished up the labs and did water quality testing. at the end of the day we wrote in our lab jornals then went home.

J.A.

The work of the urban divers

The things I learned at the Gowanus Canal was the Urban Divers keep track of the living organism that live in the Gowanus. We also learned that thirty years ago the Gowanus Canal was more polluted. Some of us noticed that the water was green. Not much marine life live in the Gowanus canal. We also learned how to appreciate New York body of waters - not to throw, bottles, papers and other garbage into the canal or other bodies of water.We get to learn more about New york harbor and about its history.

D E

Gowanus Canal History

The Gowanus Canal is located in Brooklyn, New York near the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Red Hook. It was once called the Gowanus Creek. The town of Gowanus was established in 1639 by the Dutch on what was a small tidal creek leading out into a bay. In 1700 one of the first settlers, Nicholas Vechte, built a farmhouse of brick and stone now known as the Old Stone House.


The Gowanus Canal Flushing Tunnel
The Gowanus Canal was once a very active waterway that was very important to the city's commerce, but it was heavily polluted by industrial dumping and sewage. The city built a "Flushing Tunnel" in the year 1911. The idea of the tunnel it that its operation will replace the stagnant water that the canal is famous for with fresh, oxygen-rich water that will improve water quality. The tunnel worked until the 1960's when mechanical failure caused the flushing tunnel to shut down and the canal became polluted and stagnet again. The city's Department of Environmental Protection completed the effort to restore the Gowanus Canal Flushing Tunnel. The tunnel operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, bringing fresh water into the canal. It's helping to keep the canal clean.