Surfers, kayakers show their love for the St. Lawrence ahead of sewage-dump plans

Nauticalenthusiasts took to the the shores of the St. Lawrence River on Sunday morning to protest against the city's plan to dump eight billion litres of wastewater into the river.

Water-sports lovers gathered in Lachineto surf and paddle around the St. Lawrence before heading to the Lachine Canal.

Organized by Quebec Surf andEcho Aloha, a company in Morin Heightsthat does paddleboard lessons,Sunday's gathering was meant as a way to show their love for the St. Lawrence.

"We can do better. [The volume of the wastewater in question] is probably one per cent of the stream,"said JonathanBusby, the owner of Echo Aloha. "We can reduce our impact."

And although they don't expect to stop the city from going ahead with its plan, the protesters are hoping that the city canat least find some ways to minimizethe amount of sewage about to be dumped into the river.

They also wanted the protest to convey to Montrealers the responsibility of being mindful of the non-human waste they put in the toilet.

• Montreal raw sewage dump plans handed over to Environment Canada
• St. Lawrence raw sewage dump: Montreal mayor gives Environment Canada 3 days to meet

AlexandreLpine, a member of Quebec Surf, said people should work together to keep the water as clean as possible.

After all, he added, the current of the river might be powerful enough to wash the waste away from the city's shores, but other cities upstream will have to contend with what Montrealers flush.

The City of Montreal plans to dump the untreated wastewater into the river as a temporary measure while it carries out work on the Bonaventure Expressway and some parts of the Montreal sewer system. The sewer diversion is supposed to start Oct. 18 and last a week.

However, the city has come up against resistance from residents and Environment Canada, the latter of which is still analyzing the city's plans.

The government agency is expected to give its official position on Tuesday.