Ottawa asks Montreal to halt its plan to dump sewage in the St. Lawrence
The Canadian federal government has asked Montreal not to continue with its plan to dump two billion gallons of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence...
Oct 07, 2015 — The Canadian federal government has asked Montreal not to continue with its plan to dump two billion gallons of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River. Montreal officials said this week ongoing construction of a major city highway has left them no alternative.
Montreal’s Mayor Denis Coderre spoke to the Canadian press Monday and explained that over the weekend, he and city officials re-examined their plan to release wastewater in the river. He told reporters despite strong opposition, the plan has to continue. “Is there a way to take some option in between? Can we use some temporary ways instead of sending that to the river? The answer is no,” Coderre said.
As the city waits for Environment Canada to have the final say on the plan, Environment Minister Leona Aqlukkaq issued a public statement Tuesday that said the plan to dump raw sewage into the river is “very concerning.” Aqlukkaq said polluting the river with untreated wastewater violates the Fisheries Act. The Canadian law is meant to protect the river from anything that could harm fish. She asked Montreal Mayor Cordierre to halt his plans.
But Cordierre has accused Aqlukkaq of playing politics, and said Environment Canada has been aware of the plan for a year. The Environment Minister is a candidate in the upcoming national election. Montreal Gazette reporter Rene Bruemmer, who’s been covering the story, said those national politics have come home to roost in Montreal. The opposition party was the one to tip the media on the city’s plan to dump the sewage.
“The opposition party and municipal councilors came out and asked 'why is the city dumping 8 billion liters of sewage into the river?' And then that's why we all perked up. And that's part of the problem. No, the city didn't announce anything and it sort of came as a shock,” Bruemmer said.
Since then, said Bruemmer, city officials have been in a tight spot trying to explain why there’s no alternate plan for dealing with the main sewage line. “It's Environment Canada that has the last say on this and that raises the question, too, that if you were planning to do this for years why is it one and a half, two weeks before, you still don't have Environment Canada's okay on it?" he asked.
The mayor stated last week that the city has dumped sewage into the river before, in 2007 and back in 2003, without objection from Environment Canada. Bruemmer said that information raises eyebrows, since he said this is the first time the public learned about it. “My take on it is that perhaps they got away with it in 2003, 2007 without saying anything," he said, "so let's just try that again and that'll be good.”
Many Montreal residents don’t want to see their waste in the River. Xavier Nonnenmacher created an online petition that got 75,000 signatures. He said, “Many people live along the river in Quebec. Many people live, fish, surf and we drink water from the river every day.” Xavier said, based on the comments people have left on the petition, many are shocked and question how much the city officials care about the river. He said the news that the federal government asked the city to halt its plan was encouraging.
Back on the U.S side of the border, State Senator Pattie Ritchie reached out to the agency responsible for protecting the St. Lawrence River on Monday. Ritchie wants the International Joint Commission to look into Montreal’s decision. The IJC said they will notify both the Canadian and U.S. government of Ritchie’s concerns. But the United States has little say on what goes on in parts of the river that lie entirely in Canada.
Montreal plans to dump the untreated wastewater into the River starting October 18 until October 25.
