Quebec and Ottawa will help Laval resolve its water management problem by curbing the discharge of unfiltered water into the Rivière des Prairies and the St. Lawrence River.
This $30 million project, which Stéphane Boyer, mayor of Laval, describes as “a big underground sponge”, should restore Laval’s image in terms of wastewater discharge.
In December 2022, the Rivières Foundation unveiled a study that ranked Laval among the worst cities in Quebec for the dumping of wastewater into nature. Last month, the same foundation revealed that Laval has only one watercourse where the quality is safe for swimming.
“A few decades ago, there were about 13 beaches in the city, and Laval was a vacation spot for people from Montreal […] people bought chalets and bathed,” explains Stéphane Boyer in an interview.
Mr. Boyer has high hopes for the project. “There is still a lot of work to do to improve the quality of the St. Lawrence River […], but a project like this will allow us to reduce overflows. »
This project was set up when 140 homes in the Saint-François sector have been struggling with backflow problems since the 1980s, learned The Press.
As a temporary solution, pumps had been installed to expel the water towards the river and thus save the basements of these 100 or so Laval residents.
“Beyond solving the problem for citizens, we will take the opportunity to reduce overflows since our factories are at full capacity, which means that we are forced to dump untreated water into the rivers”, indicates the mayor of Laval.
Major project
The project to improve the water system in Saint-François will be 80% funded by the two governments, provincial and federal, which are each injecting $12,264,400. This sum is accompanied by an investment of $6,132,200 from Laval.
The work will extend over 2 km and will mainly affect Monty, Romain, Mirelle and Lévesque streets.
“In this sector, there is no space to create a water retention basin, so we will build one directly from the pipes, explains the deputy director general of the engineering department of Laval, Martin Gaudette. . The pipe will be oversized so that the water accumulates during melting snow or heavy rains, instead of being sent directly into overflows or creating problems for citizens. »
Part of the 30 million will improve the streets concerned with new sidewalks, bike paths and trees.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport and Member of Parliament for Vimy, Annie Koutrakis, points out that with climate change, large cities must have reliable and environmentally friendly water services.
Stéphane Boyer agrees. “The infrastructures are aging in the cities of Quebec and it is very expensive to redo the networks, so we need support of this kind. »