By Rebecca Henely
While many lovebirds will flock to one of the borough’s restaurants and parks for Valentine’s Day, more than 200 are expected to spend their day with their special someone on top of a wastewater treatment plant.
For the second year in a row, the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, will host Valentine’s Day tours at the facility. Led by Jim Pynn, the superintendent of the plant, the tour will briefly cover the plant’s wastewater treatment method and then take visitors up to a 120-foot-high observation deck located on top of the plant’s digester eggs.
The stainless steel eggs, lit blue at night and which give the plant its unique look, process 1.5 million gallons of sludge a day. From their observation deck, Valentine celebrants can see views of the Manhattan skyline and the Greenpoint neighborhood.
A city Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said last year’s tours attracted 200 visitors. The two 75-person tours this year — one at 9:30 a.m. and another at 1 p.m. — have already been booked full, but an 11 a.m. tour is still available.
For those who miss the Valentine’s Day event, the plant holds tours every month.
To participate in the tour, RSVP to events@dep.nyc.gov. The tour begins at the plant’s visitors center at 329 Greenpoint Ave.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
