Tank war in the canal
City to begin work on Gowanus tanks, feds fume over noncompliance woes
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
“Minor mobilization” work
is set to begin on the future
site of the Head End Combined
Sewer Overfl ow tank starting
next week, ahead of more work
expected to begin next year, said
Kevin Clarke, a manager at the
city’s Department of Environmental
Protection at Tuesday’s
meeting of the Gowanus Community
Advisory Group.
DEP will start delivering
equipment and materials including
storage containers and
barriers to the Head End site,
according to spokesperson Edward
Timbers, with construction
trailers delivered in mid-
December and new fencing
built at the end of the month.
The update came after Brian
Carr, a lawyer with the federal
Environmental Protection
Agency, the group overseeing
the Superfund cleanup of the
Gowanus Canal, said they are
“in the process of responding to
the city’s notice of intention to
not comply,” with provisions of
the agency’s cleanup orders —
namely, the timeline of design
and construction of two huge
stormwater and sewage retention
tanks to be built alongside
the canal.
The tanks are a necessary
addition to the $1.5 billion dollar
federal sweep of the canal,
which started last fall, and will
continue through at least 2023.
Part of the cleanup is ensuring
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COURIER LIFE, D 6 ECEMBER 10-16, 2021
the water isn’t polluted
again, which is where the tanks
come in. Because stormwater
and wastewater fl ow through
the same system, sewers overfl
ow during periods of heavy
rainfall — sending thousands
of gallons of contaminated water
into the canal. The tanks
are meant to catch and hold that
overfl ow and gradually fi lter it
back to the sewer system after
those rain events, reducing the
amount of waste sent right back
into the canal.
The EPA’s primary complaint
has been the city’s long
delay on the design and construction
of the tanks. If they
are not completed until after
the feds are done scrubbing the
canal clean, toxic sludge might
start to accumulate at the bottom
of the canal again.
DEP is currently scheduled
to complete construction at
Owls Head by mid-2029. Earlier
this year, the EPA ordered the
city to complete Head End, by
2029, and Owls Head by 2028.
That order came after city
offi cials missed deadlines to
submit designs to EPA, then
said that construction at Head
End would not be completed until
2032 — after the Superfund
cleanup is set to fi nish. The
tanks would prevent combined
sewer overfl ow from running
into the canal, re-polluting it
after the pricey cleanup. Any
additional dredging needed after
the Superfund is complete
would be funded by city dollars,
and the agency has already
warned the city that they may
incur steep fi nancial penalties
if noncompliance continues.
DEP has repeatedly disagreed
with the EPA’s allegations
that they are out of compliance,
though that view is not
shared by the federal agency.
According to the EPA, the
city is in noncompliance on
several fronts — including that
they are behind on demolition
of the buildings that currently
stand on the Head End site and
preservation at 234 Butler St.
If penalties were issued,
Carr said, the city does not
have a way to dodge them —
and that may be enough to get
things moving.
“Let’s put it this way: we
have not resolved our differences
with the city, and the
period of the city being out of
compliance with EPA’s orders
has essentially grown longer,”
he said.
A rendering of the headhouse at Head End. DEP
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Health Commissioner
Pediatricians recommend
the COVID-19 vaccine
for 5-17 year olds.
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