Flushed with love? Or feeling like love stinks? Either way, celebrate Valentine’s Day with NYC Department of Environmental Protection and Open House New York on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Manhattan sewage pump station.
This facility is Manhattan’s first line of defense against all the things that should never be flushed down the toilet. The pump station’s first job is to screen out debris -- from wet wipes to condoms to the occasional flushed goldfish. Once screened, the sewage is pumped into a surge tower and dropped deep underground to travel below the East River to treatment at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility in Brooklyn.