Brooklynite’s new book explores history of Gowanus Canal
Brooklyn BookBeat
Earlier this year on Earth Day, environmental activist Christopher Swain did his best breaststroke in Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. Swain, who regularly swims in the world’s dirtiest waterways to raise water pollution awareness, decided to mark his cause this year by swimming in the Gowanus, the epically polluted and newly minted Superfund site.
A bath of toxic chemicals, sewage and a heavy concentration of flesh-eating bacteria awaited Swain. Donning a dry suit, swimming cap, goggles, gloves and shoes, and his face slathered in water-resistant oil, Swain spent 40 minutes in the canal and later described the experience as like “swimming into a dirty diaper” and “the water was 50 degrees and tasted like blood, poop, ground-up grass, detergent and gasoline.”
For more than 150 years, the Gowanus Canal has been called a cesspool, an industrial dumping ground and a blemish, but it’s also one of the most important waterways in the history of New York Harbor. Yet its true origins, man-made character and importance to the city have been largely forgotten.
Joseph Alexiou is the author of the sixth edition of “Paris for Dummies” and a licensed New York City tour guide. His writing has appeared in the New York Observer, Gothamist and New York Magazine’s Daily Intel.
Leave a Comment
Leave a Comment