Albeit, this most likely is not Manhatten, but that part of NYC had some very bad sewage systems. I remember walking down the street in Manhatten and I always got a whiff of some pungent-ass foul smelling sewage. I always described NYC as a city teetering between a 1st world and 3rd world city. Then there's Cleveland known for the Cuyahoga River catching on fire.....That was the event that created the EPA. My old military buddy, who lived by Cleveland use to tell me stories about it. He called Cleveland, "The Mistake on the Lake". Hilarious.