Grand Splash de Batiscan - Sunday, August 18 at 11 a.m.
August 16, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Batiscan, August 16, 2024 - The first edition of the Grand Splash de Batiscan, organized by Fondation Rivières and
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Batiscan, August 16, 2024 - The first edition of the Grand Splash de Batiscan, organized by Fondation Rivières and
One hundred people jumped into the river at the Old Port of Montreal for the traditional Grand Splash, an initiative of Fondation Rivières to demand a harbour bath at the Jacques-Cartier Basin and new swimming access around the island of Montreal.
On July 3, 2024, the federal government gave the go-ahead for the expansion of the tailings and waste rock piles at the Bloom Lake iron mine, adding the lakes and rivers surrounding the project to its list of exceptions to the ban on destroying fish habitat. This means that 37 bodies of water surrounding the mine site, representing 156 hectares of fish habitat and many more natural environments of all kinds, will be destroyed in perpetuity. The federal government is thus following in the footsteps of the provincial government, against the advice of the BAPE, scientists and public opinion, and setting a dangerous precedent.
In this Water Month, Fondation Rivières and the City of Chambly release the results of a 2nd study revealing that water quality in the Chambly basin has very good potential for dry-weather swimming. The results of this portrait of microbiological water quality in the basin pave the way for new, environmentally-friendly uses of the river.
In its energy bill and energy policy, the government plans to raise the threshold for the private sector to build and operate power generation facilities from 50 to 100 megawatts. This is very worrying, as it opens the door to the unbridled construction of "small" hydroelectric power plants all over the country, already that the current 50 MW threshold corresponds to a dam as big as the one in place on the Rivière des Prairies north of Montreal and operated by Hydro-Québec.
Fondation Rivières welcomes the government corporation's willingness to take charge of wind power development in Quebec through its wind power development strategy. This opens the door to orderly planning of energy production on the territory, to a genuine social dialogue on energy production, and to a significant reduction in the impact of wind power production on the territory if new production is concentrated on already disturbed territories.
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