The City of Montreal will develop nearly 30 parks and 400 so-called “sponge” sidewalks, the objective of which is to better withstand heavy rains, over the next two years.
The City made the announcement a few hours before the start of the “Adaptation Futures” international conference on adaptation to climate change, which will begin Tuesday morning at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. Mayor Valérie Plante is expected on site, as are Environment Ministers Steven Guilbeault and Benoit Charette.
Since 2022, the City of Montreal says it has created seven sponge parks and 800 sponge sidewalks. She wants to add 30 parks and 400 sidewalks of this type in 2024 and 2025 in order to slow down the quantity of water that flows into sewer infrastructure during heavy rains.
“Depending on the different developments, the impact of heavy rains will be reduced by redirection of water towards the river, complete retention until the sewer network is available, or even gradual flow through the ground. These include, for example, vegetated plains, play areas below, or even multifunctional in-ground pools,” explained the City in a press release.
More and more often, torrential rains overload Montreal’s sewers and put a strain on the city’s infrastructure, as was the case during the episode of torrential rains which occurred at the beginning of July.
Demineralizing public spaces or greening urban environments to allow natural spaces to absorb rainwater is recognized as an effective measure for adapting to climate change.
During a speech before the Montreal International Relations Council at the end of September, Mayor Plante also mentioned the idea of creating “sponge streets” by removing asphalt, for example.
“There are places in the city where, with every torrential rain […], they find themselves flooded, so what do we do? I have to change the territory, I cannot leave it the same, people are no longer insurable, it is incredibly sad to see people who come to cry in a district council,” she said. supported.
More than 1,500 international specialists in adaptation to climate change will gather this week at the “Adaptation Futures” conference to discuss best practices for responding to the challenges posed by climate change.