Technical Support for Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal Superfund Efforts

Boomi’s staff have extensively worked outside and within DEP on both Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek superfund projects, including sewer system characterization, InfoWorks (IW) modeling evaluations and peer review, drainage analyses, and alternatives evaluation.

Project Owner

New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) - Bureau of Environmental Policy and Analysis (BEPA)

Project Location

New York City

Project Context

The City of New York is among the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) required to clean up Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal from historical pollution that led to superfund designation in early 2010s.

Project Challenge

Although historical pollution in Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal is attributed to organic contaminants, the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and stormwater (point sources) from City’s outfalls do contribute sediments into these waterbodies that the organic contaminants can attach to.

Our Solution

Our staff led the review of IW models of Newtown Creek drainage area for various parties including New York State and USEPA and established the legal basis for using the City’s models for superfund analyses. Boomi evaluated a range of alternatives involving storage tunnels and tanks, high level sewer separation, green infrastructure, and pump station upgrades to mitigate the impacts of CSOs on these two waterbodies.