diff --git a/examples/sourcetransform/event_time_filter/example.py b/examples/sourcetransform/event_time_filter/example.py
index 24c8a9e3..e33604dc 100644
--- a/examples/sourcetransform/event_time_filter/example.py
+++ b/examples/sourcetransform/event_time_filter/example.py
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
 """
 This is a simple User Defined Function example which receives a message, applies the following
 data transformation, and returns the message.
-If the message event time is before year 2022, drop the message. If it's within year 2022, update
-the tag to "within_year_2022" and update the message event time to Jan 1st 2022.
+If the message event time is before year 2022, drop the message with event time unchanged.
+If it's within year 2022, update the tag to "within_year_2022" and 
+update the message event time to Jan 1st 2022.
 Otherwise, (exclusively after year 2022), update the tag to "after_year_2022" and update the
 message event time to Jan 1st 2023.
 """
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ def my_handler(keys: list[str], datum: Datum) -> Messages:
 
     if event_time < january_first_2022:
         logging.info("Got event time:%s, it is before 2022, so dropping", event_time)
-        messages.append(Message.to_drop())
+        messages.append(Message.to_drop(event_time))
     elif event_time < january_first_2023:
         logging.info(
             "Got event time:%s, it is within year 2022, so forwarding to within_year_2022",
diff --git a/pynumaflow/_constants.py b/pynumaflow/_constants.py
index fce8419a..253d0401 100644
--- a/pynumaflow/_constants.py
+++ b/pynumaflow/_constants.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from datetime import datetime, timezone, timedelta
-
 MAP_SOCK_PATH = "/var/run/numaflow/map.sock"
 MAP_STREAM_SOCK_PATH = "/var/run/numaflow/mapstream.sock"
 REDUCE_SOCK_PATH = "/var/run/numaflow/reduce.sock"
@@ -19,8 +17,3 @@
 STREAM_EOF = "EOF"
 DELIMITER = ":"
 DROP = "U+005C__DROP__"
-# Watermark are at millisecond granularity, hence we use epoch(0) - 1
-# to indicate watermark is not available.
-# EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP is used to indicate that the message is dropped,
-# hence excluded from watermark calculation.
-EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP = datetime(1970, 1, 1, tzinfo=timezone.utc) - timedelta(milliseconds=1)
diff --git a/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/__init__.py b/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/__init__.py
index 13bd5fc4..4708603d 100644
--- a/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/__init__.py
+++ b/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from pynumaflow.sourcetransformer._dtypes import Message, Messages, Datum, DROP, EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP
+from pynumaflow.sourcetransformer._dtypes import Message, Messages, Datum, DROP
 from pynumaflow.sourcetransformer.multiproc_server import MultiProcSourceTransformer
 from pynumaflow.sourcetransformer.server import SourceTransformer
 
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
     "Messages",
     "Datum",
     "DROP",
-    "EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP",
     "SourceTransformer",
     "MultiProcSourceTransformer",
 ]
diff --git a/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/_dtypes.py b/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/_dtypes.py
index 24e8f79f..b3242cd2 100644
--- a/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/_dtypes.py
+++ b/pynumaflow/sourcetransformer/_dtypes.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from typing import TypeVar, Callable
 from warnings import warn
 
-from pynumaflow._constants import DROP, EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP
+from pynumaflow._constants import DROP
 
 M = TypeVar("M", bound="Message")
 Ms = TypeVar("Ms", bound="Messages")
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ def __init__(
         self._value = value or b""
 
     @classmethod
-    def to_drop(cls: type[M]) -> M:
-        return cls(b"", EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP, None, [DROP])
+    def to_drop(cls: type[M], event_time: datetime) -> M:
+        return cls(b"", event_time, None, [DROP])
 
     @property
     def event_time(self) -> datetime:
diff --git a/tests/sourcetransform/test_messages.py b/tests/sourcetransform/test_messages.py
index 34d7af08..8f2caf46 100644
--- a/tests/sourcetransform/test_messages.py
+++ b/tests/sourcetransform/test_messages.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import unittest
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
-from pynumaflow.sourcetransformer import Messages, Message, DROP, EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP
+from pynumaflow.sourcetransformer import Messages, Message, DROP
 
 
 def mock_message_t():
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ def test_message_to_drop(self):
             "Keys": [],
             "Value": b"",
             "Tags": [DROP],
-            "EventTime": EVENT_TIME_FOR_DROP,
+            "EventTime": mock_event_time(),
         }
-        msgt = Message(b"", mock_event_time()).to_drop()
+        msgt = Message(b"", datetime(1, 1, 1, 0, 0)).to_drop(mock_event_time())
         self.assertEqual(Message, type(msgt))
         self.assertEqual(mock_obj["Keys"], msgt.keys)
         self.assertEqual(mock_obj["Value"], msgt.value)