{"id":25296,"date":"2021-04-14T10:28:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fondationrivieres.org\/?p=22903"},"modified":"2023-01-25T16:18:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T21:18:20","slug":"des-depots-a-neige-intoxiquent-nos-rivieres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fondationrivieres.org\/en\/des-depots-a-neige-intoxiquent-nos-rivieres\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow deposits poison our rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PRESS RELEASE<\/strong>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span><\/p>

Montreal, April 14, 2021<\/strong> \u2013 Images captured by citizens over the past two days in Longueuil and broadcast on the <\/span>social networks<\/span><\/a> show polluted water leaving a City settling basin. The outfall flows directly into a stream of clear water, in the Tremblay woodland, an important wildlife refuge for the chorus frog in Quebec. Dead frogs and fish were observed there and complete silence reigned while normally the cry of tree frogs is heard in the middle of the spring season. The Fondation Rivi\u00e8res asks the Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change to review the authorizations issued by his ministry and which ensure that snow deposits allow plumes of pollution to flow into waterways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

For Mr. Patrick R. Bourgeois who went to the site to check the origin of the contamination, \u201cWe cannot tolerate a snow dump, a mountain of pollution if ever there was one, flowing into a wildlife reserve, killing chorus frogs in the process. It is high time to review the management of these deposits. I filmed what ordinary citizens would never have seen, in addition to industrial yards and waste right up to the shore, without any protection limits being respected. An environmental devastation in what should be a wildlife paradise,\u201d he declares.<\/span><\/p>

According to the Fondation Rivi\u00e8res, government standards must be revised and take into account the fragility of certain environments. Simple settling basins, which are also too small, only allow sand to be removed. Many other contaminants (chlorides, salts, metals, oils and greases, microplastics, etc.) from contaminated snow escape into watercourses. The standards are the same regardless of the receiving environment, nonsense. The Foundation has also supported <\/span>complaint to the Ministry of the Environment in July 2018<\/span><\/a> in a similar file located on the banks of the Magog River. The analyzes obtained showed major exceedances of suspended solids. The Ministry would then have undertaken closer monitoring of the operation of the site without, however, tightening the environmental standards of the site.<\/span><\/p>

For Alain Saladzius, engineer and president of Fondation Rivi\u00e8res, \u201cthe treatment of heavily polluted water leaving snow depots must be improved. The design criteria are too weak and do not take into account the receiving environment. Toxicity tests should be applicable because fish mortalities have been observed. This year, the speed of the snow melting reminds us that climate change is causing upheavals that must now be taken into account,\u201d he concludes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The former mayor of Huntingdon, St\u00e9phane Gendron, confirms \u201cI witnessed this aberration for years, the Ministry of the Environment authorized us to discharge water from the snow deposit into a sanctioned watercourse which flowed in the Ch\u00e2teauguay River. It was totally inconsistent, but on the pretext of lack of funds, everything is acceptable. It\u2019s extremely embarrassing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>