Disgusting beyond description.
Via Yahoo:
Plunging into one of the country’s most polluted waterways is probably not how most New Yorkers aspire to spend their weekend, but Christopher Swain is not most New Yorkers.
On Saturday, the 47-year-old environmental activist became the first person in history to swim the 1.8-mile length of Brooklyn’s frothy green Gowanus Canal. Swain hopes the swim will help draw attention to the contaminated water and inspire city officials to undertake a large-scale cleanup effort.
Situated alongside gas and chemical plants and other manufacturing facilities ever since its construction was completed in 1869, the Gowanus Canal contains a range of contaminants, from PCBs and heavy metals to coal tar wastes and volatile organics, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.