Murky Waters

Note: this article was updated on Feb. 16 2026

Four years after The Hatch Institute co-published a sweeping report on environmental threats posed by New York City’s most polluted canal — and one of the nation’s dirtiest waterways — a grand plan to revitalize Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood was put on hold.

State and federal officials were compelled to re-examine details of an ambitious affordable housing development along the banks of the Gowanus Canal after a study found airborne toxins in a nearby building to be 450 times the health safety levels set by New York State.

That discovery by a private environment firm prompted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to begin testing the soil and air in homes, businesses and public spaces covering roughly 100 blockes in the neighborhoods where the Gowanus flows. That process continues.

A series of legal battles are also in play, with a host of troubling revelations referenced in court filings. Claims filed by a community group, The Voice of Gowanus, seek to halt development of the site in question, known as Public Place, claiming not enough has been done by authorities to remove pollutants in the ground and water. Additional matters of law have been reported by The Brooklyn Paper and  The Gothamist.

As we detailed in our story, a partnership with The New York Times, former mayor Bill de Blasio spearheaded the effort to construct acres of new housing along the canal, some of it for low-income New Yorkers, a fast-tracked plan that continues to test how the city might accommodate a host of competing interests — and will likely help shape the future of New York.

Over the course of the last year or so, several towering residential developments have been completed and opened in Gowanus, and more are coming.

Meanwhile, residents, advocates and officials continue to gather — and clash – over the situation, including during a community meeting on Oct. 8 2025 at P.S. 372 in Gowanus, known as The Children’s School, which regularly undergoes testing for soil and air quality.

Jack Riccobono, a vocal member of The Voice of Gowanus, slammed the DEC at the meeting, alleging it “has no plan to address the contamination in Gowanus.” His group wants a more robust remediation of the canal and its banks than what officials have proposed. He and others have criticized cleanup efforts and how the state intends to protect the zone from toxins, flooding and other challenges in the future.

The DEC says it is acting responsibly.

“What you’re seeing play out here is a coordinated federal, state and local push to address legacy contamination in the area,” said Sean Mahar, the DEC’s interim commissioner, during an agency press conference in June 2024.

“The EPA is in charge of the canal cleanup remedy, and we are overseeing brownfield and state Superfund cleanups throughout the area as well. All that is being done is in direct coordination with all the entities. Obviously, we take great pride in keeping the community informed of all the work that is underway.”

Six months later, Mahar did not mention Gowanus during a hearing with state lawmakers in Albany on Jan. 28 2025.

But Assembly member Michelle Hinchey grilled him on leachate, a type of pollution that forms when water flows through waste products, picking up contaminants like heavy metals, pathogens and other threats. She said leachate had affected the town of Hurley, where residents are concerned about a shuttered landfill and Superfund site.

Leachate is a longstanding problem in Gowanus.

“We’re doing a lot for emerging contaminants in water but there’s still a lot more to do on-site before these contaminants get into our water stream,” she said. “What is the DEC doing to help communities right now that have to do with onsite treatment of leachate and other contaminants?”

“We need to understand the site-specific characteristics,” said Mahar. “And there are a lot of discussions we have to have on a case-by-case basis.”

Said Hinchey: “We imagine this is a much larger issue than this one landfill in Hurley. And it seems there is not funding available to help with the mitigation piece now.”

Whether a solution in Gowanus can be found that guards against health threats and floods, provides desperately needed low-income housing and encourages growth and diversity in the area remains to be seen.

We encourage you to read our original story, co-reported by Mihir Zaveri, a Times staff reporter, Jo Corona, a freelancer working for The Hatch Institute, and myself, Brad Hamilton, editor-in-chief of The Hatch Institute.

Let us know what you think.