The day after a slick of oil was reported floating on the St. Lawrence River near Pointe-aux-Trembles, in eastern Montreal, authorities began pumping the substance on Friday morning and announced that it was motor oil, the source of which is still unknown.
What there is to know
- A motor oil spill has been polluting the St. Lawrence River and dirtying the banks since Thursday in the Pointe-aux-Trembles area.
- Authorities have begun pumping the substance into a tanker truck, but still do not know the source of the spill.
- Environmental protection experts fear a “devastating effect on the marine and plant ecosystem”, but the City of Montreal assures that there is no danger for drinking water.
“Mitigation measures have been put in place and a company has been mandated to pump the product. Work to find the source of the pollution continues,” Environment Minister Benoit Charette wrote on social media on Friday.
“It is not excluded that the product is the same that was reported at the Port of Montreal on Wednesday. A small portion of the product could have remained stuck in this sector,” added a spokesperson for the Ministry, Ghizlane Behdaoui, shortly after. “Urgence-Environnement ensures that the necessary measures for the safety of the population and the protection of the environment are put in place,” she said.
At the site, floating barriers were installed to try to contain the iridescent, viscous puddle, while a long hose connected to a tanker truck pumped the material from the surface of the water.
Several representatives from the Canadian Coast Guard, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were on site Friday morning.
The Ministry of the Environment specifies that the spill has no impact on drinking water intakes.
“A no-navigation notice has been issued for recreational boats in a defined area in order to reduce the risks of product being spread by waves and carried outside the affected area. A speed reduction notice for vessels has also been issued,” writes Ghizlane Behdaoui.
“A site exclusion zone on the river bank has been established for public safety reasons. The ministry has deployed its mobile command post, is carrying out analyses, conducting bank checks and is deploying a drone team to assist inspectors.”
Members of environmental protection organizations also turned out, worried about the possible consequences for flora and fauna. “At least the leak is contained, and finding the source should not take long,” said Alain Saladzius, president of the Rivers Foundation.
The slick then extended offshore for several hundred meters, between the boulevards of Tricentenaire and Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Dozens of meters of shoreline were covered with black material near the marina of Pointe-aux-Trembles.
“As a preventive measure, we are maintaining the closure of the boat launch and we are asking the population to avoid the area for water activities. We would still like to reassure people that the water in the area is drinkable and can be consumed safely,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante stressed in writing.
Cities on alert
The situation was also closely monitored by several other cities located along the St. Lawrence River due to the risks of subsequent contamination.
In Lavaltrie, the city’s general manager, Marc-Olivier Breault, assured that a protocol was in place. “It concerns us, that’s for sure. We are in direct contact with the government and several others. Our water intake is in the river, and it is tested almost every half hour,” he said.
“I know they are following the spread in the river closely with a drone. If that happens, we will advise our population to reduce their consumption, while the tide passes. And we will not treat the water during this time. All our operators have been advised,” continued Mr. Breault.
We have a whole action plan that will be deployed to ensure that we will not have to treat water that could contain hydrocarbons.
Marc-Olivier Breault, general manager of the City of Lavaltrie
The Intermunicipal Drinking Water Authority, which serves the towns of Saint-Amable, Sainte-Julie and Varennes, has certified that it “will remain vigilant as to the development of the situation and remains ready to intervene if the situation requires it.”
Its general manager, Jean Bergeron, however argued that “the location of [la] water intake, located between Île aux Fermiers and the banks of the Parc de la Commune in Varennes, eliminates any risk of contamination associated with the identified water tables.
“In addition, our facilities are subject to constant monitoring and we regularly invest in securing and updating our network,” continued Mr. Bergeron.
In Verchères, communications manager Karine Brodeur also said that vigilance was required. “We are aware of the situation and attentive to its development,” she noted, specifying nevertheless that the “water intake [de la ville] is not a surface water intake.
More consumption, more risks
For Louise Hénault-Ethier, associate professor at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) who is interested in environmental engineering issues, the heavy rains of the last few days “call for even more urgent action to protect the banks, as the St. Lawrence River is probably experiencing a very high flow rate in the region at the moment.”
As long as we continue to use large quantities of hydrocarbons, the risks of spills like this will always be there.
Louise Hénault-Ethier, associate professor at INRS
She fears a “devastating effect on the marine and plant ecosystem” in the “short and medium term”. “It’s reassuring to see that we are intervening promptly, but it remains that it can quickly kill several species. And since it is very likely that we will not be able to remove 100% of the oil that is there, we can think that there will be more significant health problems that will develop for certain fish.”
Her colleague Valérie Langlois, also an associate professor at INRS who has been studying the impact of such spills on animals for over 10 years, agrees.
“It will multiply as long as we consume so much. In this case, if it is a kind of bubble that comes back from what happened at the port, there is nothing to prevent there from being others, so we will have to be very vigilant in the coming days,” she says.