When looking for an apartment in New York City, it’s always helpful to ask existing residents to get a better sense of where to look. What’s the neighborhood like? Any good coffee shops? Does the area smell like a mix of sulfur, rotten eggs, and sewage?
The answer to that last question can be yes, particularly in areas along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, a two-mile-long, 100-foot-wide artificial stream of water that connects directly to the New York Harbor.
And while some may think it’s a luxury to live by a body of water, current and former residents say the canal has held toxic waste for decades. It’s one of the city’s most polluted waterways and was declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010…