Love is in the air -- and it stinks.
New York City's Department of Environmental Protection will offer tours of of its state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant in Brooklyn on Valentine's Day, the New York Daily News reports.
It's a date that's sure to make anyone's heart melt -- or at least their eyes tear, and not from job. In fact, the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant sits on one of the most fetid waterways in the country.
"It's a unique date, and one they'll never forget," plant superintendent Jim Pynn told the paper. "Just imagine going home and saying, ‘Where did he take me on Valentine’s Day? I went to see the digester eggs in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.'"
He's referring to the plant's gigantic egg-shaped "digesters," which process waste much like a human stomach, turning toxic sludge into treatable byproducts.
If that doesn't please the palate, it's important to remember that this is Newtown Creek, a waterway so foul that the federal government is commissioning an emergency cleanup. The Brooklyn Paper reports:
The creek, one of the most polluted waterways in the northeast, contains a toxic mix of chemicals that have leaked from its industrial banks in both Brooklyn and Queens for more than 150 years, but the pollution was only first discovered by the Coast Guard in 1978. Federal officials estimate that it could take between 10 and 15 years to clean up completely and have not estimated its cost.
Joking aside, there really is a beautiful view of Manhattan at the site, Lynn told the Daily News. Plus, visitors between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. receive a Hershey kiss.
Pynn says each Valentine's Day visitor will get a Hershey kiss – and at least something to talk about.