Montreal

Montreal sewage dump: Water treatment resumes in city's east end

Less raw sewage is now being pumped into the St. Lawrence River, as wastewater emanating from areas of Montreal east of Joliette Street has been routed back to treatment plants as of Friday afternoon.

City now says with part of sewer interceptor back in service, less wastewater being pumped into St. Lawrence

Raw sewage from the East End is no longer being flushed into the St. Lawrence River, which is good news for Jean Desjardins of Old Montreal Fishing.

Less raw waste is now being pumped into the St. Lawrence River from Montreal's sewers, as wastewater emanating from parts of the city east of Joliette Street has been routed back to treatment plants as of Friday afternoon. 

Completion of repairs to 17 kilometres of the 30-kilometre southeast interceptor — a large sewer line — means that all wastewater from Rivière-des-Prairies and the municipality of Montreal East is once again being treated, as is sewage from much of the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.

As much as eight billion litres of untreated sewage was expected to be pumped into the river over a seven-day period while that major sewer interceptor is repaired and upgraded.

The City of Montreal issued other updates Friday. Here are the latest:

  • Southeast interceptor repair work: About 25 workers continued with repairs and inspections and removed debris and sediment from one of the three large sewer lines that brings effluent to the Jean R. Marcotte treatment station.
  • As of 4 p.m. ET Friday, 39 of 56 steel braces had been removed from a point starting at the Riverside wells. Work crews continued their work at the Marguerite-Bourgeois site about 1.9 kilometres from the exit. Structures were also removed from the Ogilvy site.
  • Alepin structure: Inspections have been completed.
  • Work on the structures along the three-kilometre section from Joliette Street to Dickson Street has been completed and inspected.
  • Wells Station: The rail replacement to the well for the southern gate of the John R. Marcotte Station has been completed.