City completes sewer upgrade in Gowanus designed to help reduce flooding

The city has finished work to upgrade sewers in Gowanus, Brooklyn that are designed to reduce flooding in the low-lying neighborhood, officials announced Wednesday.

The $54 million project has over the last seven years overhauled the storm sewer system along Third Avenue between State and Carroll streets.

The project expands the area’s drainage system by adding a new pipe dedicated to stormwater discharge, which officials said is intended to reduce the amount of pollution and sewage flowing into the Gowanus Canal.

Rohit Aggarwala, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, said in a statement the upgraded drainage system has already proved effective at reducing flooding.

“These drainage improvements proved their worth most recently during the Fourth of July rainstorms, as DEP received no reports of sewer backups or street flooding along Third Avenue,” Aggarwala said.

The city acknowledged that Gowanus is a “vulnerable area” and that more mitigation is needed in other sections of the neighborhood.

“DEP continues to explore stormwater management solutions for other corridors in Gowanus that experience regular flooding,” Aggarwala said.

The project has torn up sections of Third Avenue since 2016 as the city installed more than a mile of new storm sewers, along with nine storm chambers and 74 catch basins. The city also replaced older cast iron pipes with sturdier ductile water mains and added 36 new fire hydrants.

The DEP also built green infrastructure like curbside rain gardens at NYCHA’s Gowanus Houses, which officials said could capture nearly 2 million gallons of rainwater yearly. The project is another step intended to reduce the pressure on the area’s sewer system and decrease runoff into the Gowanus Canal.