On Tuesday, October 10th, JSK students traveled to the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY. The Gowanus Canal is a 1.5 mile long waterway that goes from Brooklyn and opens to the Upper New York Bay (which goes out to the Atlantic Ocean). The Gowanus Canal has a long history of pollution and is currently classified as a DEP Superfund site.
JSK students learned about NYC waterways, NYC sewage system, and combine sewage overflow events (what happens when storm water and sewage overflow into the Gowanus Canal during a rain event). Mauricio said, “I was not really surprised to learn that the Gowanus Canal is not that clean. It’s been raining harder and harder and that causes more sewage to overflow into the water. That is not healthy for the fish and other organisms that live in the water.”
Students performed water quality assessments, testing the temperature, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, and turbidity. Richard said, “My group tested the salinity, or the amount of salt in the water of the Gowanus Canal. My results showed that the salinity unhealthy, which was not surprising because I know how polluted this waterway is.”
JSK Data can be found at the link here, which is available to the public. Overall, the trip was a success.
