This article was taken from the June 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
These psychedelic patterns aren't art: they were produced by pollutants on the surface of the fetid Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York. The body of water -- one of the most polluted in the US -- is getting a $506 million (£344 million) detox after being used as an industrial dumping ground for more than a century. "The mud is up to three metres deep and has the consistency of thick mayonnaise," says Walter Mugdan, superfund division director at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is overseeing the cleanup.
This year, a test-clean will start in part of the canal, a precursor to the full operation that begins in 2017. Local sewers will be upgraded so that waste no longer overflows when it rains. A dredging operation will lift 460,000 cubic metres of sludge, and the most contaminated parts of the canal base will be capped with soil, sand and rocks to stop the water mixing with toxic sediment. The cost of the upgrade will be divided between the companies that historically polluted the canal over the years. "People believe for the first time in a century that it will actually get cleaned up," says Mugdan.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
