Quebec City to dump 46 million litres of sewage waste into St. Lawrence River

Quebec City is warning residents it will be dumping 46 million litres of untreated wastewater into the St. Lawrence River over a 12-hour period starting Thursday night at 11 p.m.

The city is asking residentsto limit waterconsumption during the operation, which is expected to end at 11 a.m. on Friday.

Spokesperson Wendy Whittomsaid during thatperiod, sewage will be dumped directly into the St. Lawrence, "although there is a grid in place which retains solids," she wrote in an e-mail to CBC.

Maintenance work is required on the Saint-Pascal pumping station, which entails emptying it entirely to allow workers inside.

Whittomsaid not doing the repairs could damage the structure of the station, which was last emptied in November 2016, when 135 million litres of untreated water were washed into the St. Lawrence River.

At the time, Rgis Labeaumesaid theprocedure was fairly common, although the controversy over Montreal'sflushgateepisode in 2015 has forced the city to be more transparent.

Montreal dumped some 4.9 billion litres of untreated wastewater into the St. Lawrencein November of that year.

Scientists with the city of Montreal laterfound thewater quality of the St. Lawrence River returnedto normal four to 10 days after the dump ended.

Their report, however, suggested that the cityshould have improved its communications strategy to better inform the population and avoid the public outrage that ensued.

Optimal timing

Quebec City said this week'soperation was timed to minimize its impact on the environment, with dry weather and cold temperatures.

Whittomsaid doing the work in onenight will lower the quantity of untreated water that will end up in the St. Lawrence.

She said the frequency of this type of operationdepends on when repairs are needed. The city also dumped 8.5 million litres of untreated wastewater into the riveron Dec. 7, 2017, from a sewage pipe which runs under the Pont de Qubec.

The city said it has advised Quebec'sEnvironment Ministry, as well as Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

CBCreached out to theprovincial and federal governments for comment but has not yet received a response.