A village in Bas-Saint-Laurent has been living “a nightmare” for a few days: its main source of drinking water shows a high concentration of hydrocarbons, the result, according to the town hall, of a leak in the tank of a truck which circulated, last fall, near its water table.
Since Tuesday, all residences supplied by the Saint-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup aqueduct network must refrain from consuming the water that comes out of their tap. In all, the notice concerns 483 households in a locality with a permanent population of barely 1,400 people.
“It’s really a nightmare,” sighs Josée Ouellet, mayor of Saint-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup. The municipality draws water from three wells, the main one of which is now unfit for consumption due to a high hydrocarbon content.
The other two could also be: a Rouyn-Noranda laboratory analyzes samples taken from them. At the beginning of next week, explains the mayor, the municipality should have the right time.
In the meantime, the municipality is starting its first bottled water distribution on Wednesday evening at the arena. Others will follow on Saturday, Monday and Thursday. “We are going to do it systematically until we have enough information to decide what to do next,” said the mayor with a hint of apprehension.
The result could effectively ruin the small municipality which saw the birth of Marcel Aubut, the father of Jack Kirouac, Léo, and the businessman Raymond Malenfant.
“We may line up to have to find another well, which would be very, very expensive,” says Josée Ouellet. That would mean moving our pumping and water treatment station when we haven’t even finished paying for the facilities that have been in place for fifteen years. »
The municipality was hoping for financial aid which, today, appears uncertain. “If we have to drill a new hole and move all that stuff, it’s going to cost us millions of dollars. On the other hand, we do not enter any box of the government for cases of disaster like that. This has never happened elsewhere, believes the mayor of Saint-Hubert. Our insurers do not want to reimburse us for the damage caused either: they believe that since the incident took place on a public road, it is not their responsibility. »
” A puzzle “
“We are a little disappointed with the reaction of the main players who should help us in all this,” sighs Josée Ouellet. While waiting to find a solution to this puzzle, we ask the population to manage with acquaintances or neighbors who have uncontaminated wells”.
The passage of a truck with a leaky gas tank took place this fall, but it was not until the beginning of the week that the municipality realized that the petroleum products spilled on Taché Road, which passes near the main water table, had reached groundwater.
In December, Saint-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup sampled its water for the first time to ensure its potability. In the heart of winter, the analyzes had detected no sign of contamination. Out of consideration, the person in charge of water at City Hall had decided, on her own initiative, to sample the main source a second time to ensure that the flooding and snowmelt had not caused the hydrocarbons into the aquifer.
She had been right: the samples revealed significant contamination. The municipality knew that its source of drinking water was vulnerable because of its proximity to the road, especially since during the drilling work, explains the mayor, the traffic of heavy trucks had, at the time, cracked the ground. , creating as many corridors where surface water can trickle down to the water table.
Decontaminating this groundwater would also be extremely expensive, if not impossible. “We are going to need help because we will never be able to pay for this alone,” concludes the mayor.
The municipality does not rule out taking legal action against the company responsible for the contamination. “We’ll see,” concludes Josée Ouellet. In the meantime, it’s giving us headaches and it doesn’t look good. »