Wastewater spills: Fondation Rivières reveals the sad record of municipalities

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, October 28, 2020 – Following the release on September 28 of its interactive map on wastewater spills, Fondation Rivières is now making public the list of 50 municipalities that stand out in terms of the number of spills in 2019.

According to many experts, the interactive map showed that 60,660 spills took place in 2019 across the province and saw their distribution by municipality. Based on the number of spills and the intensity index, Palmares presented today now makes it possible to compare the performances of municipalities with each other. The ranking presents the list of 50 municipalities in four distinct portraits according to: 1) the number of spills, 2) spill intensity index, 3) spill intensity index per capita and 4) ranking of the 10 largest cities.

Why talk about outfall intensity?

It is very difficult to measure the amount of wastewater that escapes into rivers in the event of a spill since this data does not exist. On the other hand, we know the size of each of the overflowing structures. We also know that the larger a structure, the higher the volume of wastewater released in the event of a spill. This is why Fondation Rivières developed the intensity index which takes into account the design flow of the treatment plant, the size of the structure where the spill takes place and the duration of each spill.

Why divide the data by the number of residents?

We can assume that a wastewater spill in Montreal, for example, is larger than a spill in a small municipality like La Pocatière, simply because it is a larger city. How can cities be compared to each other? By normalizing the data by the number of inhabitants of each municipality. In doing so, we can more accurately compare municipalities with each other.

“The idea behind this ranking is not to point the finger at certain cities, but above all to point out to governments the places where urgent action is needed. Currently no analysis of investment priorities is carried out. Money is injected randomly without territorial planning. However, if we wish to provide a solution to the problem, we must carry out the work according to the priority issues by watershed. This is the diagnosis that the map and the results allow us to make today. » – André Bélanger, general director of Fondation Rivières.

2019 ranking of the top 50 cities

Municipalities marked with an asterisk group together several municipalities that are served by the same sanitation system. Visit the About section for any questions regarding the methodology used in the Map of wastewater spills in Quebec.

Top 50 municipalities by number of spills

Prize list	Municipality	Number of spills
1	Quebec *	3 180
2	Saguenay	2 931
3	Shawinigan	2 135
4	Laval	1 999
5	Montreal	1 873
6	Trois-Rivières	1 683
7	Sorel Tracy *	1 631
8	Thetford Mines	1 552
9	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu *	1 462
10	Gatineau	1 459
11	Levi's	1 280
12	Longueuil *	1 191
13	Sherbrooke *	1 142
14	Rouyn Noranda	1 142
15	Saint Hyacinthe	1 025
16	Beauharnois	901
17	The Hills *	886
18	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	779
19	Chateauguay	768
20	Mont Laurier	754
21	Drummondville	742
22	Rimouski	728
23	Chandler	709
24	Alma	635
25	Beloeil *	610
26	Victoriaville	609
27	Matane	606
28	Terrebonne *	592
29	Mirabel	590
30	Amos	552
31	Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot	530
32	Brigham	513
33	Cowansville *	509
34	Dolbeau-Mistassini	449
35	The Tuque	421
36	St. Tite	416
37	The fall	403
38	Saint-Eustache	391
39	*	386
40	Granby	372
41	Saint-Félicien	368
42	Porpoise	365
43	Bedford*	354
44	Saint-Jérôme	348
45	Windsor *	341
46	Pincourt *	339
47	Gaspe	336
48	Albanel	336
49	Val d'Or	326
50	East Angus	313

Top 50 municipalities by spill intensity index

Prize list	Municipality	Intensity
1	Longueuil *	19 888 032
2	Laval	5 771 017
3	Montreal	4 945 739
4	Quebec *	3 981 551
5	Trois-Rivières	3 854 883
6	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu *	2 717 817
7	Saint Hyacinthe	2 483 146
8	Saguenay	2 165 736
9	Gatineau	2 135 201
10	Levi's	1 591 245
11	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	1 446 016
12	Shawinigan	1 370 699
13	Mirabel	1 338 949
14	Thetford Mines	994 238
15	Saint-Jérôme	926 305
16	Sorel Tracy *	904 729
17	Blainville-Sainte-Thérèse	872 855
18	Saint-Eustache	821 377
19	Alma	748 030
20	Granby	709 604
21	Terrebonne *	691 604
22	Rouyn Noranda	675 271
23	Drummondville	643 372
24	Chateauguay	586 823
25	Matane	539 540
26	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville *	492 220
27	Lavaltrie	489 161
28	Saint Georges	472 567
29	Victoriaville	465 481
30	Sainte Marie	449 193
31	Val d'Or	427 512
32	Mercier	420 950
33	The Prairie *	401 955
34	Chandler	396 156
35	Varennes	391 442
36	Roberval	369 156
37	Nicolet	367 449
38	Joliet *	332 888
39	Sherbrooke *	299 219
40	Mont Laurier	291 333
41	The fall	270 505
42	*	261 733
43	Beauharnois	257 351
44	Gaspe	255 293
45	Brigham	246 043
46	Cowansville *	245 738
47	Waterloo	237 980
48	Rimouski	227 692
49	Montebello	222 636
50	Port Cartier	222 035

Top 50 municipalities by spill intensity index per capita

Prize list	Municipality	Intensity per capita
1	Montebello	234,6
2	Brigham	106,1
3	Albanel	85,3
4	Porpoise	79,7
5	Bedford*	54,0
6	Chandler	53,2
7	Paspébiac	52,8
8	St. Tite	51,5
9	Waterloo	51,4
10	Caplan	49,6
11	Longueuil *	49,2
12	Plessisville	48,1
13	Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon	43,7
14	Saint Hyacinthe	43,7
15	Nicolet	43,5
16	Saint-Just-de-Bretenières	43,1
17	St. Damase	38,9
18	Thetford Mines	38,7
19	Matane	38,2
20	Roberval	37,3
21	Lavaltrie	34,6
22	Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade	34,0
23	Port Cartier	33,8
24	Our Lady of the North	33,5
25	Sainte Marie	33,0
26	Disraeli	33,0
27	St. Vianney	32,7
28	Megantic lake	32,4
29	Les Méchins	31,5
30	Saint-Luc-de-Vincennes	29,4
31	Mercier	29,4
32	Holy Spirit	29,3
33	Saint-François-du-Lac	28,0
34	Trois-Rivières	27,9
35	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu *	27,7
36	Shawinigan	27,7
37	Métis-sur-Mer	27,5
38	Verchères	25,2
39	Saint-Charles-de-Bellechasse	24,7
40	Alma	24,3
41	Crabtree	23,5
42	Mirabel	23,2
43	Sorel Tracy *	23,0
44	Sainte-Thècle	22,3
45	Goods	22,1
46	Saint-Édouard-de-Fabre	21,1
47	Mont Laurier	20,6
48	The fall	20,1
49	Beauharnois	19,2
50	St. Chrysostom	19,2

List of the 10 main cities according to the intensity index per capita

Prize list	Municipality	Intensity per capita	*Population*	*Intensity*	*Number of spills*
1	Longueuil *	49,2	249 338	19 888 032	1 191
2	Trois-Rivières	27,9	138 134	3 854 883	1 683
3	Saguenay	14,8	146 606	2 165 736	2 931
4	Laval	13,1	439 754	5 771 017	1 999
5	Levi's	10,8	147 440	1 591 245	1 280
6	Gatineau	7,4	286 755	2 135 201	1 459
7	Quebec *	7,0	564 030	3 981 551	3 180
8	Terrebonne *	5,9	117 664	691 604	592
9	Montreal	2,4	2 050 053	4 945 739	1 873
10	Sherbrooke *	1,8	169 136	299 219	1 142

List of municipalities served by the same sanitation network

Municipality	Municipalities served by the same network	Population
Bedford	Stanbridge Station	275
Beloeil	Otterburn Park McMasterville Mont-Saint-Hilaire	8 280
		5 909
		19 022
Chambly	Richelieu	5 479
Cowansville	East Farnham	576
Joliette	Our Lady of Lourdes Notre-Dame-des-Prairies Saint-Charles-Borromée St.Paul	2 909
		9 454
		14 575
		6 331
The Meadow	Delson Candiac Saint Catherine St. Constant	8 141
		22 306
		17 463
		29 273
Longueuil	Boucherville Brossard St. Lambert	42 714
		89 092
		22 725
The hillsides	Coteau-du-Lac	7 221
Pincourt	Terrace-Vaudreuil	1 965
Quebec	Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures	19 477
Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	Saint-Basile-le-Grand	17 323
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu	Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevois	2 138
Sherbrooke	Hatley	2 188
Sorel Tracy	Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel	1 608
Sorel Tracy	Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel	2 776
Terrebonne	Mascouche Bois-des-Filion	49 466
Terrebonne	Mascouche Bois-des-Filion	9 970
Windsor	Val Joli	1 654