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Park Slope Residents Gripe About Grime Backing Up In Pipes

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Residents in Park Slope, Brooklyn, just blocks away from the Gowanus Canal, are complaining that a nasty brown substance is backing up into their sinks and toilets.

Neighbors told 1010 WINS' Derricke Dennis the gunk is especially bad after a sudden, heavy rain.

"It comes out from the ground up," one man said. "And you have to cover your face because it's so nasty."

Park Slope Residents Gripe About Grime Backing Up In Pipes

"I think it's disgusting," resident Lillian Rodriguez told Dennis.

The city's Department of Environmental Protection confirmed having a problem with sewage backup in the area after a heavy rainfall overwhelms the system.

But Jim Roberts, an engineer with the DEP, said "the thought that the canal backed up, I think, is highly, highly, highly improbable."

Roberts said sewage system upgrades are underway.

Rodriguez, however, said that's unacceptable.

"They kind of said last year they were going to fix it," she said. "Here's the summer. Still not fixed."

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