The Environmental Protection Agency held the first of two public meetings Wednesday on its ambitious plan to clean up Brooklyn’s polluted Gowanus Canal. Wednesday's meeting was held at P.S. 58 in Carroll Gardens.

EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said the meetings will help area residents understand the scope of the project.

“I also think people living in the neighborhood are just going to want to know practical questions,” she said. “How long will it take? Will it be noisy? Will there be truck traffic?”

The half a billion dollar cleanup plan, unveiled in December, calls for dredging the bottom of the canal and removing pollutants like PCBs and heavy metals that have accumulated over the decades.

The next meeting on the plan will be held Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the Joseph Miccio Community Center in Brooklyn.