The first step to ameliorate the canal's pollution was the 1890s construction of the Bond Street sewer pipeline that carried sewage out into the harbor. This proved inadequate. In the first attempt to improve flow at the northern, closed end of the canal, the "Big Sewer" was constructed from Marcy Avenue in Prospect Heights to Green and 4th Avenues in Gowanus. It then entered the canal at an inflow point near Butler Street. "Scientific American" featured this sewer design for its innovative construction method and size. The area the sewer ran through was known as the "Flooded District". It was believed that this new sewer would serve two purposes: to drain the flooded district, and to use the flow of that excessive water to move the water of the upper Gowanus Canal. The tunnel was completed by 1893, but Brooklyn residents complained their sewage outputs were not connected to the Big Sewer. The "Brooklyn Daily Eagle" initially hailed the sewer's size and extent. However, the newspaper declared it an "engineering blunder" in 1898, saying the Big Sewer caused sewage to go back into the Gowanus Canal, rather than its intended purpose of draining sewage from it.