NYC sewage plant’s strangely popular Valentine’s Day tour goes virtual

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What better way to express love in the time of a pandemic than virtual sludge.

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection and Open House New York aren’t letting the pandemic end their wildly popular Valentine’s Day tours of a Brooklyn wastewater facility. Instead, they’re making it virtual.

Tickets for the tours of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, composed of what are known as digester eggs, reliably sell out soon after being released. So while the virtual adaption has its obvious drawbacks, it will at least remove some of the tour’s exclusivity.

The Feb. 14 tour costs $5 and will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Zoom.

“Grab a date (or join solo) and take a peek inside the city’s largest sewage treatment plant, where wastewater — collected from storm drains and the toilets and sinks of more than 1 million New Yorkers — is cleaned each day in a complex system, including eight giant stainless steel digester eggs,” reads the Eventbrite ticket page description of the event. The virtual program will focus on the plant’s architecture as well as “how the digester eggs got their shape, why you should not take a shower during a rainstorm and the real problem with ‘flushable’ wipes.”

It will also include a behind-the-scenes video tour, a conversation with DEP director of public design outreach, Alicia West, and an audience Q&A.

For those looking for COVID-safe, in-person activities this Valentine’s Day, there’s another New York specialty. At 1,131 feet in the air, Edge is the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere and will be opening at 6 a.m. Feb. 14 to let lovebirds enjoy the sunrise together, 6sqft reported. The deck is located on the 100th and 101st floors of 30 Hudson Yards. Tickets go on sale Monday and cost $100 for a sunrise slot and $36 for general admission, or $34 for NYC residents. V-Day tickets also come with optional champagne, rosé champagne and “Cupid’s Cocoa” add-ons.