Montreal to dump 8 billion litres of sewage into St.
Lawrence River
Opposition
Projet Montréal urges city to find alternative to 7-day purge of untreated
wastewater
CBC News
Posted: Sep 29, 2015 4:42 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 29, 2015 4:42 PM ET
The City of Montreal says the
weeklong purge of a major sewer interceptor doesn't pose an environmental risk,
because the wastewater will be easily diluted in the fast-flowing St. Lawrence
River. (Radio-Canada)
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Stories
The St. Lawrence River could reek
like sewage for a week, starting on Oct. 18.
That's when the City of Montreal
plans to start dumping a colossal amount of untreated wastewater
directly into the river from a major sewer interceptor for a seven-day
stretch.
The amount dumped will be
13 cubic metres per second over seven days: that's eight million cubic
metres in all, or eight billion litres — the equivalent of 2,600
Olympic-sized pools of raw sewage, from homes, industries and hospitals.
Up until the 1980s, it was
common practice to clear the sewers this way, although it is no longer
considered acceptable.
Tied
to Bonaventure demolition work
It's been six years since the city
last had to dump untreated waste directly into the river, City of Montreal
spokesman Philippe Sabourin said.
"There is no other possible
choice," Sabourin said. He said the work is tied into the demolition of
the Bonaventure Expressway.
"The river has a huge dilution capacity. It isn't
a major environmental concern." - Philippe Sabourin, City of
Montreal
A major snow-dumping area under the
expressway must be moved. The existing snow dump feeds into a major sewer
interceptor, and in order to modify that interceptor, it – and other
sewer lines flowing into it – must be cleared.
The interceptor, located under Mill
St. between Riverside and Bridge streets, is one of two on the island of
Montreal. It collects the wastewater for the Southwest borough,
LaSalle and Lachine, as well as parts of Verdun and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
River
flows quickly, diluting pollution
"The river has a huge dilution
capacity, with a flow rate of 6,000 to 7,000 cubic metres per
second," said Sabourin. "It isn't a major environmental concern."
However, Sabourin did
acknowledge the plan does pose a problem for sports fishermen, kayakers
and surfers, especially those who carry out their recreational activities
behind Habitat 67.
He said the city is to post
information about the planned dump along the shoreline and
conduct "targeted communications."
The City of Montreal said it
has obtained the authorization of the provincial environment ministry to clear
the sewers.
Find
another solution, demands opposition
"Wouldn't it be possible to pump the wastewater into
another sewer line temporarily?" -
Sylvain Ouellet, Projet Montréal
"It's hard to believe there is
no other mitigation measure that could be put in place to avoid untreated
wastewater from being dumped directly into the river for a week," said
Sylvain Ouellet, Projet Montréal's spokesman on environmental matters.
"Wouldn't it be possible to
pump the wastewater into another sewer line temporarily, to avoid polluting the
river?" Ouellet asked.
"Isn't it possible to come up
with a portable water treatment method, some way of screening?" he asked.
"Is it not possible to ask industries in the area to temporarily stop
putting noxious materials into the sewer system?"
We cannot ask residents to stop
using their bathrooms, said Sabourin. There would have to be portable toilets
all over the place.
Translated from a Radio-Canada
report by Thomas Gerbet
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