Love Is In The Air At Wastewater Treatment Operations
When Valentine’s Day rolls around, couples typically celebrate at intimate restaurants, atop beautiful vistas, or with romantic movies at home. But this year, an unconventional venue choice has emerged as a romantic destination: wastewater treatment operations.
In two of the country’s most populous cities, lovebirds are gearing up to spend their time at the facilities responsible for turning wastewater into regulatory-compliant effluent. In the nation’s capital, that could mean tying the knot at the hub of the city’s water and sewer authority.
“The new DC Water Headquarters in Navy Yard is trying to make a bid as the city’s hottest wedding venue,” DCist reported. “The building was designed as a place to consolidate all of the utility’s estimated 350 administrative workers in one 150,000 square foot place. But HQO is built on top of the O Street Pump Station and next to the historic Main Pump Station — indeed, the building is heated thanks to the pumping station’s wastewater treatment operations.”
According to the report, influential wedding-focused media outlet The Knot has highlighted the venue. And any funds solicited from couples getting hitched at the wastewater-focused location will go toward the city’s treatment mission.
“The money raised by renting the space will be used to offset any rate increases for DC Water customers,” per DCist. “It’s a part of a bigger effort to make the utility self-sustaining.”
Meanwhile, in New York City, Valentine’s Day revelers will gather at a major wastewater treatment plant to celebrate the year’s most romantic holiday by learning more about how the city treats their influent.
“The Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility … has just become the Big Apple’s unlikeliest romantic destination,” according to CBS News. “Newtown Creek is offering special Valentine’s Day tours, which include an overview of its wastewater treatment process and a visit to the facility’s observation deck, located 120 feet off the ground on top of its ‘digester eggs.’”
The annual tours are so popular that New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection requires reservations and allows visitors on a first come, first served basis.
“The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant’s wildly popular (and free!) Valentine’s Day Digester Egg Tour will teach you about how these eight stainless steel-clad vessels process up to 1.5 million gallons of sludge every day, turning organic material removed from sewage into an organic compound that can be used as fertilizer,” 6sqft, a New York City event listing site, reported in its roundup of “un-boring” ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day. “Extra bonus: visitors will be treated to a romantic view of the Manhattan skyline from the top of the eggs.”
To read more about how wastewater treatment utilities interact with visitors, visit Water Online’s Consumer Outreach Solutions Center.