So This Guy Is Going To Swim In The Gowanus Canal
To raise awareness for the need to hurry up and clean the Gowanus Canal, a man plans on diving into the polluted waterway this Earth Day and taking a swim.
Christopher Swain, a clean-water activist who has taken similar swims through other, somewhat less toxic, bodies of water — including the entire 315-mile stretch of the Hudson River — will take the dip tomorrow, Wednesday, April 22, “to call for an accelerated cleanup of the Canal,” a release reads, noting his ultimate goal “is a Gowanus Canal that is safe to swim in every day.”
“The Gowanus Canal has been stolen from anyone who wants to exercise to their right to fish, paddle, and swim so what do you do? You steal it back,” he told the Daily News.
He’ll be wearing protective gear from head to toe, and during his swim of the entire 1.8-mile length of the canal — declared a Superfund site in 2010 — here are a few of the things he’ll need to be protected from:
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are suspected to be cancer-causing.
- Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), also suspected cancer-causing agents, plus can have neurological effects.
- Heavy metals, including mercury, lead, and copper.
Best of luck, Christopher, and we are really hoping you don’t end up like the last mammal who swam in the canal!