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This Is a Map of NYC's Most, Er, Contaminated Waterways

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New York's waterways are one of the things that has made this city great. They are also filled with human feces. A map made in September by I Quant NY that is now making the internet rounds does the interesting/revolting work of showing which particular waterways are the most contaminated by Combined Sewer Outflows, which is what happens when it rains because NYC's sewage system and street drainage system are the same thing. Quant's Ben Wellington did some numbers-crunching (you can hear about how in his just-released TEDxNewYork talk) and determined the top ten "dirtiest" individual spots, which are located in: 1) Coney Island Creek, 2) Bergen Basin, 3) the Bronx River, 4) Alley Creek, and 5) Bergen Basin again. If you haven't heard of Bergen Basin before, well, it's probably for the best. Incredibly, the Gowanus Canal, New York City's prototypical disgusting waterway, did not crack the top five, but it does occupy two of the six-ten slots.

Anyway, enjoy your lunches.
· Fecal Map NYC: The Worst Places to Swim in the City [I Quant NY]
· Mapping the Most Poop-Filled Waterways in New York [City Lab]
Map via I Quant NY