Quebec will have to give “much more” money to cities in the coming years, as they adapt to fight against the multiplication of episodes of heavy rains and floods, pleads the City of Montreal, at the dawn of the second leaders’ debate. With aging infrastructure, the metropolis is otherwise afraid of going into debt much too quickly.
Posted at 12:00 a.m.
“Between 2010 and 2016, the Quebec government funded 60% of water infrastructure needs. Today, it’s only 24%, and it only affects basic needs, even though needs are increasing rapidly,” laments the head of water on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, Maja Vodanovic.
The one who is also mayoress of Lachine figures at 680 million the shortfall in terms of green infrastructure to meet the needs, which will necessarily grow in the coming years.
PHOTO PASCAL RATTHÉ, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Maja Vodanovic, responsible for water on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, in October 2021
When a pipe bursts, it costs 10 times as much to fix it. And right now, we have so much work to do that we no longer have the choice to change our approach. It takes recurring support.
Maja Vodanovic, responsible for water on the executive committee of the City of Montreal
Recently, the City has been employing a “submarine in the sewers”, as the situation is critical, in order to detect “where are the biggest flaws in the system” and to repair them quickly. “We are really in an emergency situation in Montreal. We can’t wait any longer, ”said the chosen one.
Towards a new management
“There is a change of mentality to operate,” said the head of the sustainable management division at the Service de l’eau de Montréal, Hervé Logé, who describes the current situation as “chronic underfunding”.
With his teams, he has been thinking for several years about the concept of “green infrastructures”, so that water does not percolate in the sewers, but elsewhere on the public domain. Resilient parks, draining sidewalks, flood-prone places (water squares): these water retention facilities are multiple, and can be integrated into the space. So far, the City has built three resilient parks and is already studying 25 other potential sites.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF MONTREAL
Development of a resilient park near Pierre-Dansereau Park, in Outremont
“The change with that is that people have to accept seeing the water on the surface for a little while. The sewer, in the collective mind, is a vast black hole where the water will inevitably disappear. There is an excessive citizen expectation to think that the public system will be able to manage all the wells and that the water will disappear underground all the time. But it’s just not possible, ”continues Mr. Logé.
We have to think differently with the systems we have. The difficulty today is to direct the water to where it has the least impact.
Hervé Logé, Head of the Sustainable Management Division at the Montreal Water Service
About 17,000 square meters of such facilities “will emerge in the next few years,” says Maja Vodanovic. “It’s much less expensive than a retention pond, which can cost up to $100 million, but doesn’t solve all the problems either. »
In his eyes, the “green pact” of 2 billion requested by the municipalities, to which François Legault closed the door before reopening it, is “the base”. “You can’t just rely on people’s property taxes. If we increased water taxes significantly, people would want to murder us,” she says, adding that it is “logical” with the increase in government tax revenues due to inflation. , that part of this money “returns to the cities”.
“It’s not sexy to invest in water infrastructure. People don’t realize how important that is. But you have to do it to be responsible, ”adds Mme Vodanovic.
Private measures… and businesses
“The first step is to really recognize how much it costs, the current needs; [680 millions], that should be the start of discussions. We know that in 30 or 40 years, the rains like those we experienced last week, it should happen twice as often, ”slips Mr. Logé.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Heavy rain events are expected to occur more often due to climate change.
He fears that more and more people will be affected at the same time. “There will also be measures to consider more importantly on private property, to prevent water from entering buildings, especially when water accumulates on the roads. We cannot think that public investments will manage all the impacts, ”continues the official.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Vegetated rainwater retention basin, avenue Pierre-de-Coubertin
In the office of Mayor Valérie Plante, it is recalled that an important source of funding for water infrastructure must also “come from private industries that make a profit from it”.
“The royalties for water drawn in Quebec must be increased to reflect its fair value and this money must be put back into our public infrastructures. This is one of the joint requests on which we are working in the Alliance of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities, ”said press officer Alicia Dufour on Wednesday.