Environment Canada issued a news release stating that it has conditionally approved the proposal of the City of Montreal to discharge approximately 1.76 billion gallons of untreated wastewater into the St. Lawrence River during construction work on its sewage treatment system.
A final Order requiring the City of Montreal to modify its plans to discharge untreated wastewater into the St. Lawrence River has been issued.
The Order requires that the City of Montreal:
- Prepare and have in place a management plan with respect to unanticipated deposits from large industrial, institutional or commercial facilities to the City of Montreal’s sewers during the construction period.
- Establish visual surveillance during the discharge, and deploy measures to clean up affected areas.
- Conduct enhanced monitoring of water quality, sediments and plants prior to, during, and after the discharge, and provide this data to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
- Participate in a comprehensive review of the events leading to this incident, which will be led by the Department of theEnvironment and Climate Change, and will include participants from affected First Nations, the Province, the City, as well as other interested parties, to ensure we establish and maintain respectful relationships with First Nations.
These modifications to the City of Montreal’s plan reflect the advice of the independent scientific experts who analyzed the City’s proposal. The experts concluded that the period between October and December poses the least risk to fish.
The independent experts advised Environment and Climate Change Canada that there would be a greater risk to the environment if the maintenance work is not carried out by the City of Montreal; the possibility of an unplanned discharge of untreated wastewater increases over time.
