What's to be done about the Gowanus Canal? Any ideas? If so, the Department of Environmental Protection wants to hear them. The DEP sent out a notice indicating it is seeking proposals for how best to remove storm water from the sewer system and how best to treat it before it is discharged back into the Gowanus Canal watershed and Flushing Bay. The agency plans to award grants totaling $2.9 million to the potential projects, equally divided between the two areas. You better hurry though, because a retired engineer, Bart Chezar from Park Slope, thinks he has a plan that "will not only prevent raw sewage from continuing to foul the already polluted waterway, but also modify the behavior of local residents so that they do their part to keep the waterway clean." more ›