Submitted by Margaret Maugenest, Aug 22, 2008 01:36

The Gowanus, both land and water, is a Brownfield area from past industrial uses. But there are other issues as well. One of them is that it is an open sewer, because of the CSO's - Combined Sewage Outfalls. CSO's are the discharge of untreated wastewater from Combined Sewers directly into a waterway, in this case, the Gowanus Canal They usually occur as a result of heavy rain that causes the capacity of the sewer to be exceeded. So when there is a heavy rainfall, and the sewers overflow, raw sewage is discharged into the Gowanus.So unless the sewage system gets a complete overhaul, very unlikely, the canal will forever remain an open sewer. Another issue is that the Gowanus is in a flood zone. Even now, houses near the canal experience flooding (and that water has the abovementioned raw sewage). Residents near the Gowanus cannot get flood insurance. And the earth's water levels are rising… The Whole Foods site does not look so wholesome...

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.