The Gowanus Canal has seen some particularly plague-like events these past couple of weeks. You know, death of the first-born, flooding and all that. But hey look, someone is braving the apocalypse and putting those treacherous waters to good use. On August 6, Open House New York is running a boat tour along the canal for anyone who’s interested to know just how it got so dirty, and what the city is going to do to make it better.
This wheelchair-accessible boat tour will be hosted by David Briggs, director of Gowanus By Design, and Andrea Parker, from the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. You’ll learn all about the canal’s early beginnings as a commercial waterway (and its unfortunate recent decline into a dumping site for city sewage). There will also be representatives from the US Environmental Protection Agency in attendance, to keep everyone’s arms and hands inside the vehicle at all times give you a little more context about the ambitious plans they have for the canal’s restoration!
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There are two tours, one at 5pm and one at 7pm. Boats depart promptly, so make sure you’re there 20 minutes early to check-in and suit up. A general admission ticket is $40, which isn’t cheap. But you wouldn’t have any interest if the canal were sparkling clean, now would you? The watery sewage factor gives this tour chutzpah.