Sewage leak a black eye for the Island

The nausea-inducing news preceded the torrential downpour last Monday that forced the Lachine Canal to close down Tuesday after the city was forced to dump raw sewage into the canal to avoid sewer backups.

I paddle in the canal on a daily basis. It's bad enough that, given the area's past industrial contamination, my teammates and I joke about how, any day now, we're probably going to start glowing in the dark, I now had to be reminded, in gag-inducing detail no less, about high levels of fecal coli forms floating in the waters of the St. Lawrence, near Nuns' Island. Lovely…

While they tell us the unacceptable pollution is limited to the immediate area where raw sewage is being dumped, that does little to assuage the "icky" factor. Let's face it; who wants to be swimming, fishing or even sunbathing, near water where human s$%*, pee and tampons are happily floating by? It may indeed be a drop in the ocean, figuratively speaking, but it's still a drop of fecal matter! Call me crazy, but I don't want that water touching my skin.

On a comical side note, the very same day the news broke out, one of my friends e-mailed me enthusiastically about the Comité citoyen Montréal baignade and their annual Grand Splash event; where Montrealers happily splash away in the Old Port waters, as they push for more access to the St. Lawrence. My friend couldn't wait to go swimming in the river! Being the kill-joy that I am, I promptly told her of the press conference that had taken place that morning in Verdun and the reason why I didn't feel any immediate desire to frolic in the waters of the St. Lawrence. Having squashed her "joie de vivre", she grudgingly inquired as to whether my next move involved me kicking a puppy. I assured her it did not, but she remained unconvinced.

The water quality around the island of Montreal is the best it's been in over 20 years, thanks, in no small part, to gargantuan efforts made by the City to improve its sewer treatment infrastructure. The borough should have jumped at the opportunity to rectify the sewage leak; not try to downplay it. This wasn't the time to be conducting a witch hunt, to find out who (the home owners, developers, the borough) is ultimately responsible for the repair bill. This was the time for action. The sewage leak should have been taken care of a.s.a.p.; no matter what the cost, no matter whose responsibility.

I can't help but feel that the Verdun borough missed a wonderful opportunity to act quickly and prove that they really are respectueux de nature", as they claim on their billboards. As complex as the situation might be, things could have been handled much better -- and much quicker.