Montreal to Dump Raw Sewage as It Makes Repairs

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/world/americas/montreal-sewage-st-lawrence-river.html

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OTTAWA — The mayor of Montreal, Denis Coderre, said Tuesday that the city would begin dumping about 2.1 billion gallons of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River early Wednesday morning.

The diversion, which may continue for up to seven days, will allow workers to repair and alter a major collector sewer. “If we could have avoided this choice, we would have done it,” Mr. Coderre told reporters.

Some environmental groups and aboriginal communities oppose the step. After initially approving the city’s plan, the former Conservative federal government banned the city from diverting the sewage in the midst of the recent election campaign. The Conservatives were routed by the Liberal Party last month.

The new Liberal government said Monday that the diversion could go ahead provided that the city addressed concerns raised by a panel of scientists. That review found that while dumping the sewage was not ideal, it was preferable to the potential consequences of a sewer failure.