by Allan Woods, Toronto Star (Quebec bureau)
Early Wednesday, the city Montreal began a massive and controversial operation to dump eight billion litres of untreated sewer sludge into the St. Lawrence River in order to repair a 30-km-long sewer pipe.
At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, the city of Montreal began a massive and long-delayed operation to dump eight billion litres of untreated sewer sludge into the St. Lawrence River. Apart from the environmental controversy, it’s an ugly reminder for residents of the things floating in their water.
The work:
Highway repairs have forced the demolition of a snow dump, a vertical, underground pipe into which trucks loaded with cleared snow deposit their wintery loads. It is a pipeline into the city’s sewer system where the snow melts, is treated and re-used. The highway repairs leave Montreal in need of a new snow dump in time for winter.
The water:
To do the work, a 30-kilometre-long sewer pipe that carries untreated waste water 35 metres below the ground needs to be emptied and dried out. This will result in eight-billion litres of water being dumped into the St. Lawrence River over seven days, the equivalent of 2,600 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sewer water began streaming into the river at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Round the clock:
At 12:01 a.m., the city closed the valves and gates to the main sewer pipe and began diverting it into the river. Once the pipe is empty, it has to dry. Then, construction and repair teams will go underground to start the job, working in shifts around the clock. Other work includes a planned ozone system that will treat bacteria, viruses and pharmaceutical products in the waste water.
Condoms and Q-Tips:
City officials say there is no risk to drinking water and Mayor Denis Coderre made a show of drinking tap water at a Tuesday news conference. But Montrealers are banned from any activity bringing them into contact with water on the city’s southeastern shore until 48 hours after the work has been completed. Also, people are asked not to flush cigarette butts, condoms, Q-Tips, medicines, tampons or baby wipes down the toilet. Dumping the water in the fall also reduces smells and the risk to fish.
Controversy
Sending such a large volume of untreated water into the river was obviously controversial. Even Coderre questioned the plan this fall. But the work was delayed in October when the former Conservative environment minister, Leona Aglukkaq, decided to order a stop to the project in the middle of the federal election campaign. Coderre admitted Tuesday this is the least bad option: “If we could have avoided this choice we would have done it. If there had been better options we would have adopted them. The reality is this option is based on the lowest impact on the environment.”
Rejected Alternatives
A provincial report from October indicates that the city had, in fact, studied alternatives including placing metal grates on the outlet sewer pipes to collect non-liquid waste products (it was deemed too complex), extracting and remotely treating the water that was destined for the river (it would require 40,000 portable treatment trucks) and building a parallel sewer pipe that could handle the diverted waste water (it would cost $1-billion and take years to complete).
The Impact:
Even if the city insists the environmental impacts of its actions will be negligible, officials have agreed to meet several conditions imposed upon them by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. Montreal must track the waste water and clean up any mess that accumulates, draw up an emergency plan for unforeseen events and test the water quality as far away as Sorel, which is 90 km northeast of the city. The city must also take part in a post-mortem to see what, if anything, could have been done differently.
Stink about Mtl's decision on raw sewage
Early Wednesday, the city Montreal began a massive and controversial operation to dump eight billion litres of untreated sewer sludge into the St. Lawrence River in order to repair a 30-km-long sewer pipe.
At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, the city of Montreal began a massive and long-delayed operation to dump eight billion litres of untreated sewer sludge into the St. Lawrence River. Apart from the environmental controversy, it’s an ugly reminder for residents of the things floating in their water.
The work:
Highway repairs have forced the demolition of a snow dump, a vertical, underground pipe into which trucks loaded with cleared snow deposit their wintery loads. It is a pipeline into the city’s sewer system where the snow melts, is treated and re-used. The highway repairs leave Montreal in need of a new snow dump in time for winter.
The water:
To do the work, a 30-kilometre-long sewer pipe that carries untreated waste water 35 metres below the ground needs to be emptied and dried out. This will result in eight-billion litres of water being dumped into the St. Lawrence River over seven days, the equivalent of 2,600 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sewer water began streaming into the river at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Round the clock:
At 12:01 a.m., the city closed the valves and gates to the main sewer pipe and began diverting it into the river. Once the pipe is empty, it has to dry. Then, construction and repair teams will go underground to start the job, working in shifts around the clock. Other work includes a planned ozone system that will treat bacteria, viruses and pharmaceutical products in the waste water.
Condoms and Q-Tips:
City officials say there is no risk to drinking water and Mayor Denis Coderre made a show of drinking tap water at a Tuesday news conference. But Montrealers are banned from any activity bringing them into contact with water on the city’s southeastern shore until 48 hours after the work has been completed. Also, people are asked not to flush cigarette butts, condoms, Q-Tips, medicines, tampons or baby wipes down the toilet. Dumping the water in the fall also reduces smells and the risk to fish.
Controversy
Sending such a large volume of untreated water into the river was obviously controversial. Even Coderre questioned the plan this fall. But the work was delayed in October when the former Conservative environment minister, Leona Aglukkaq, decided to order a stop to the project in the middle of the federal election campaign. Coderre admitted Tuesday this is the least bad option: “If we could have avoided this choice we would have done it. If there had been better options we would have adopted them. The reality is this option is based on the lowest impact on the environment.”
Rejected Alternatives
A provincial report from October indicates that the city had, in fact, studied alternatives including placing metal grates on the outlet sewer pipes to collect non-liquid waste products (it was deemed too complex), extracting and remotely treating the water that was destined for the river (it would require 40,000 portable treatment trucks) and building a parallel sewer pipe that could handle the diverted waste water (it would cost $1-billion and take years to complete).
The Impact:
Even if the city insists the environmental impacts of its actions will be negligible, officials have agreed to meet several conditions imposed upon them by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. Montreal must track the waste water and clean up any mess that accumulates, draw up an emergency plan for unforeseen events and test the water quality as far away as Sorel, which is 90 km northeast of the city. The city must also take part in a post-mortem to see what, if anything, could have been done differently.
Stink about Mtl's decision on raw sewage
