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Dlandstudio's Gowanus Canal Sponge Park to be Constucted in Next Year

Dlandstudio's Gowanus Canal Sponge Park to be Constucted in Next Year

It has been several years in the making, but now the industrial strip along Brooklyn’s polluted Gowanus Canal will finally be transformed into a lush and porous green space aptly named The Gowanus Canal Sponge Park that will soak up and filter rainwater to help improve the overall water quality along the waterway. This $1.5 million project, a collaboration between the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and landscape architecture firm dlandstudio, will finally get off the ground with the help of city, state, and federal funding.

While a full esplanade was initially planned for the 1.8-mile stretch along the EPA Superfund site, Bloomberg recently announced that the city’s first step will be a scaled-down park right where the canal intersects with Second Street. The park takes its name from its “working landscape.” Dlandstudio plans on using plants and soils to soak up toxins and heavy metals from the water. The firm will also employ strategies to reroute storm water run-off to keep the sewer system from overflowing and spilling back into the mucky canal. Floating wetlands will also be implemented to absorb contaminants and toxins from sewage.

The Daily News reported that the city plans on breaking ground on the park by 2014, and hopes to open it to the public by summer of 2015.


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