22 million liters of wastewater in the St. Lawrence River

Quebec City dumped 22 million liters of feces-contaminated water into the St. Lawrence River on Wednesday after maintenance work at a western sewage treatment plant deemed the discharge inevitable.

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The scheduled work took place between 1 p.m. and 1 p.m., according to a statement. Built 30 years ago, the Einstein Street station needed cleaning, repair of transfer switches and main circuit breakers.

Precautionary measure

“Failure to perform this preventative maintenance can cause major damage to equipment. These breaks can later lead to unintended wastewater spills. Preventing breakage and improving facilities is the best way to limit future environmental damage,” according to the city, which will prevent even larger discharges into the river.

Mercury overflow – It is 45,000 m³ Water, including wastewater stored in retention structures — equals the flow through the river in Quebec City “in four seconds,” as we explained.