On the virtue of dirty, yucky water.

Years ago, captains would actually park in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal...to kill off any marine growth on their ships, thanks to water so polluted it could change color daily, said John Waldman, a Queens College professor who has studied the environmental history of New York Harbor.

But now, thanks to those goody-goodies who passed the Clean Water Act of 1972, the harbor is once again becoming home to gribbles and shipworms - that's right, gribbles! and shipworms! - which are eating up the boats and piers. Or at least munching on them, which is bad enough. Because munching makes holes and if you happen to own a boat or pier, holes are bad.

(Story: My Way News.)