Love stinks (in a good way), and other lessons of the Valentine's Day sewage tour

NEW YORK - Becky Van and Kale Novalis knew exactly when and where they were going to tell each other "I love you" for the first time.

It would be just before Valentine's Day. They would visit a landmark with a view of the Manhattan skyline. It was a place that fascinated them both but where neither had been, and which delivered a crucial service to millions of New Yorkers. And it would offer them a particular, er, aroma.

The couple had signed up for a Valentine's Day tour of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the largest of 14 wastewater treatment facilities in New York City.

Aside from