Bill Miller: Gowanus Canal

Filthy waters of Brooklyn

Less than two miles long, the Gowanus Canal nips through Red Hook and Park Slope in New York’s borough of Brooklyn, and was once a hub of water-based activity and a good spot for clamming. Fast-forward to the 21st century and here is what Bill Miller found instead. “Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal is one of America’s most polluted waterways. More than a century of unfettered industrial abuse was followed by decades of bungled attempts to clean it up. It is murky and clouded over but if you look closely you can see life and light reflected in the mercury, feces and coal tar that drift in the canal like malevolent clouds.”

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