MONTREAL — Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has green-lighted Montreal’s plan to discharge eight billion litres of untreated sewage into the St. Lawrence River if certain conditions are met.
McKenna told reporters from Paris today she’s asking the city to implement several measures before dumping the waste water such as monitoring the discharge and to improve emergency-planning clean-up measures.
She says the discharge can begin as soon as the conditions are met and must be completed by Dec. 5.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has said the dump is necessary because the city must temporarily close a large sewer that feeds sewage to a treatment facility and alternative solutions would be too costly.
In mid-October, the discharge plan was suspended by the previous Conservative government, which appointed an independent panel of experts to determine if the waste water would be acutely toxic.
The panel’s report was released Friday and stated the risks of waiting were greater than the city’s plan to dump the sewage immediately into the river.
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