Montreal is delaying its swimming area project at Parc de la Promenade-Bellerive by several years, following a new public health notice identifying “several health issues and risks” related to the area.
The Plante administration has ruled out the possibility of developing a swimming area before major riverbank rehabilitation work planned for 2028 to 2032.
The public health notice, “is not good news, in the sense that we will have a lot of work to do to reach the objective of authorizing swimming,” said Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, responsible for large parks on Valérie Plante’s executive committee. That said, “we are happy to have a little clearer information on the risks associated” with this project, she continued. “At least now we know where we are staying.”
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, head of major parks on Valérie Plante’s executive committee
The development of a supervised swimming beach open to all at the Parc de la Promenade-Bellerive has been in the works for several years. In 2021, the mayor promised to open it the following year, in 2022.
Tuesday, The Press reported that a brand new public health advisory identified several problems with the project. The document concluded that the beach’s soil is contaminated with lead and benzene, that the water can easily be contaminated by sewage, and that industrial spills can occur there. The Montreal Regional Public Health Department (DRSP) therefore recommended “limiting access to the site and not allowing swimming,” which some people already do even in the absence of a dedicated area.
In response, the swimming area project has been postponed for several years. The City of Montreal’s major parks department already had a project in its pipeline to rehabilitate about ten kilometres of shoreline, particularly affecting the Promenade-Bellerive park. Scheduled completion date for the work: 2028 to 2032. It is within the framework of this project that the area could be decontaminated.
“It will not be possible to arrange something temporary, so the project is postponed,” said Mr.me Lavigne Lalonde. This is the goal of having access to water in the restoration project [des berges] “.
In the short term, “furniture [de plage] which was installed by the district will be removed and moved” so as not to encourage visitors to swim, said Mr.me Lavigne Lalonde. “We’re going to move the furniture to a place that won’t give access to the water, but where people can still sit, relax and enjoy the view of the river. […] We will not come to barricade and put up barbed wire…” A new poster explaining the risks associated with swimming will also be installed.