Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant

Simply excretional.

On one of my first nights in Brooklyn, I got lost and drove past the treatment plant when the steel digester eggs were lit with blue and white lights for the night. I had no idea what I was seeing but it looked amazing.
Years later, I found out you can get a tour of the eggs my friends call «shit tits» and, best yet, there’s a tour on Valentine’s Day! A bunch of friends signed up this year, but freezing rain the night before caused sheets of ice to fall off the eggs. But the considerate folks at Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant called each of us to let us know the tour was canceled and rescheduled a special night tour a few days later.
We gathered in a big conference room at the visitor’s center and listened to the most entertaining and educational talk one could imagine on the topic of waste treatment. Jim Pynn, the superintendent, was funny without relying on the obvious poop joke and had great analogies to explain the processes happening at the plant.
We then broke into groups and got to tour the digester eggs, walking on the glass enclosed walkways at the top of the egg clusters. From there, we enjoyed an amazing view of the eggs, the plant and Manhattan.
Beauty and function. An all-​around great experience.

Making it to the digester egg tour was tricky. It took weeks to get a confirmation of the tour date; then they rescheduled it. When we arrived the guard started yelling at us from the booth when we walked into the visitor center. There was a pretty big crowd for a WWTP tour.
Luckily, Jim Pynn, the plant superintendent, gave the actual tour. He did his best to simplify complicated processes and compress history down to the highlights. We had a few minutes to look at the displays in the visitors center, he gave a quick talk to provide us with background info, he walked us through sections of the plant while explaining what we were looking at, and then took us up to the digester eggs. Even if you have no interest in engineering or sustainable design, it’s worth it for the view from the top. Jim is clearly excited about what he does and his enthusiasm for making it easy for people to understand really came through. There were kids with their parents, community activists, tourists, and engineers in the group — so he had quite a varied group. Toward the end they were grilling him with questions about CSOs, pollution, sustainability, etc. and I was impressed by how he took it all in stride, patiently answering everyone’s questions.
I went to this mostly as a joke, partly out of curiosity. I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting it was.
Two people who were assisting Jim from public affairs failed to tell anyone where the tour started and as a result the tour started 30 minutes late. They seemed annoyed to be there and told me (twice!) that the tour was very advanced and I might not understand it. I wasn’t chatting with them — they said this based on looks alone. They seemed to have never been on the tour — they led us in the wrong direction at one point. At the end they marched us from the elevators right out the gate. Since one little girl took the elevator down while her mom was at the top, they made an elementary aged child leave the site and wait outside the gates on her own. Those two women weren’t the best choice for any public facing position.

Went on the once-​a-​month tour to see learn about the plant and of course, to see the cool egg-​shaped digesters. The first half was a nice explanation of sewage treatment in general, and in New York City specifically, including some history of technology, standards, etc. Our guide had powerpoints but went way beyond that to fill in the blanks and answer questions. Second half was going up in the digester eggs, and the view from the top was dramatic, and informative, since we could see the whole plant layout. Worth your time if you’re interested in the infrastructure to support a metropolis. Also take a little time to explore Greenpoint area… Polish influences make it interesting.

Reuse and Recycle is the first thing that came to mind when you walk into the main lobby of the Newton Creek Sewage Treatment Plant. The icycles hanging beneath the metal and glass stairs made from plastic water bottles is a beautiful reminder of how everyday things can be created as art.
Although I am not unfamiliar with Water Treatment Facilities as I’m a Civil Engineer, Newtown Creek was certainly the prettiest ones architecturally speaking. The knowledgeable staff of the NYCDEP conveyed some really good info for the general public who’s every curious about how waste water is treated. As my first experience volunteering for Open House NY, this was a great experience coming here.

Tastiest sewage treatment plant ever. It really has some beautiful interior decorations, but whether or not it’s a good use of public money… that’s another issue entirely.

You know the little brass sculptures that adorn the 14^th St. subway station? They’re the work of Tom Otterness, whose studio is located in the Gowanus, in BKLYN. Every year for Open House New York Weekend I try to go to Tom Otterness studio, and every year the tours sell out instantly.
So, instead of Tom Otterness, this year for Open House New York Weekend 2010 I got to visit a poop plant.
Newtown Creek is the largest of NYC’s 14 wastewater treatment plants, with a capacity of a whopping 310 million gallons of poop water a day[1].
What attracted me to this sewage treatment plant is the look of it: if Frank Gehry were to design a sewage treatment plant, he would have created the Newtown Creek plant.
Affectionately known as the Shit Tits by the locals, the plant has 8 gigantic steel «digester eggs». Each massive egg is clad with low reflectivity stainless steel, is 145 feet high and 80 feet in diameter, and holds 3 million gallons of sludge. Overall, they look like a gigantic space ship out of the movie Dune.
During our visit[2], we had the opportunity to climb on top of the eggs, which are connected by a bridge. From the top of the egg there is a magnificent, unobstructed view of Brooklyn and the skyline of Manhattan.
The plant is illuminated by a diaphanous blue light by night[3], creating a rather odd, if beautiful, effect that can be seen pretty well from the BQE. A sight that is sure to take your breath away… for many reasons.
Which other sewage treatment plant has a sleek design, a visitor center, and a nature walk? This is most likely the coolest poop plant on Earth.
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[1] During the wastewater treatment process, organic material called sludge is removed from sewage. Much of the sludge is converted into water, carbon dioxide and methane gas. The remaining digested sludge is then dewatered to form a cake, which can be used as a fertilizer. The word ‘cake” will never have the same meaning for me…
[2] The visitor center is open Friday and Saturday, 12 noon to 4 pm. Groups by appointment only. To book call 718 – 595 3509 or email
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[3] The lighting was designed by artist Hervé Descottes of L’Observatoire International, an American/​French company. Hervé Descottes is known for lighting projects ranging from the diverse architecture of Steven Holl and Frank Gehry, to local projects such as Lincoln Center, the Highline, and Columbus Circle.