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Quebec saw 57,263 wastewater spills discharged without treatment in 2022, versus 36,391 spills in 2021.
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Published Oct 27, 2023 • 3 minute read
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Spills of wastewater discharged without treatment into Quebec’s lakes and rivers increased in 2022 and the Montérégie ranks first among the regions, according to the rankings of Fondation Rivières, which highlights the importance of solutions based on nature, like sponge streets, wetlands or natural retention basins.
The province saw 57,263 wastewater spills discharged without treatment in 2022, above the 36,391 spills in 2021, when there was exceptionally little rainfall.
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Trois-Rivières, Longueuil and Terrebonne stood out among the 10 large cities in Quebec for their improvements in the volume of wastewater spills for 2017-2022.
Taking into account all the cities and municipalities, Plessisville, Beauharnois and Ste-Marie showed the greatest improvements, while Thetford Mines, La Tuque and Lacolle present the greatest degradations, according to the ranking of Fondation Rivières, which is based on data from Quebec’s environment ministry.
The foundation has developed a “per capita spill intensity index,” which takes into account “the duration of the spills and the size of the overflowing structure.” The municipalities of Caplan in Gaspésie, Huntington in the Montérégie and Chandler in Gaspésie, occupy the first three positions in terms of the intensity of spills per capita.
Three municipalities in the Montérégie are among the top 10 for biggest discharges.
The foundation notes that “despite a slight improvement, Montérégie is the region that presents the highest intensity of spills since 2017, up to six times greater than Montreal in 2022.”
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Even if the intensity tends to increase in the region, particularly in the La Prairie Basin, the foundation highlighted the audacity of La Prairie, which imposed a moratorium on real estate development to reduce the pressure on its network. This constitutes, according to the foundation, “an example of sound environmental management.”
Spills most often occur following heavy rains and are intended to prevent sewage treatment plants from overflowing.
Each wastewater treatment plant has a maximum treatment capacity, and when there is too much water due to rain, the flow can exceed the network’s capacity, so the authorities choose to send the excess into rivers or lakes.
“Very often, old towns or old sectors have what we call unitary networks,” where rainwater mixes with wastewater before going to the processing plant, said the general manager of the foundation, André Bélanger.
Climate change will increase the risks of wastewater spills due to increased periods of heavy rain.
“Our networks were made to withstand normal rain, extended over a day, and to treat wastewater on a normal basis, but when we have seasons like last spring when the snow melts a lot and it starts to rain a lot, it causes an overflow,” Bélanger said.
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“We cannot control the weather, but what we can control is the reduction at the source” of the quantity of rainwater that will mix with wastewater.
“Prevention can be done by setting up places to collect rainwater, retention basins for example, or parks to which the water is directed from the sidewalk rather than sending it into the sewers.”
He gave the example of the city of Longueuil, whose record is poor, year after year.
“On Taschereau Blvd., there is a lot of parking. All these parking lots push rainwater directly into the networks and it is clear that this causes overflows. So in the case of a city like Longueuil, when the mayor announces that she wants to protect 20 per cent of the territory, that can be part of a strategy to reduce spills,” Bélanger added, emphasizing that the protection of wetlands as well as the development of sponge streets and sidewalks are examples of inexpensive natural infrastructure that helps reduce pressure on networks.
Beyond nature-based solutions, some cities have no choice but to invest in updating their infrastructure, for example by separating rainwater from sewer water into separate networks.
Sewage spills come with phosphorus and E. coli, which impact fauna and flora, and also prevent the population from taking advantage of waterways for swimming.
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