Laval, Que. Montreal residents and environment groups demand that river contamination be addressed – Montreal

Residents are raising concerns about the contamination of a river in Laval (Que.) and calling on the province for help.

Francis Letourneau, a Laval resident, enjoys going for walks in the Bois Papineau natural park near his home.

A common stop is Ruisseau la Piniere, a small river.

“For me, this place is really important,” he told Global News. “It’s the biggest creek in Laval. This is the main source of water and food for the wildlife in this park.”

He noticed something was not right one day in 2019. The river was running gray.

“It’s supposed to be clear or brown, but it was like more of a greyish colour like cement, like a sidewalk,” he recalled.

He and his wife walked near the river quite a bit during the pandemic, as there wasn’t much else to do.

They documented 13 instances where the river became completely grey. He said other park users had told him that this was a common occurrence for at least a decade.

“I was like, ‘OK, that’s a real problem.’ That was the precise moment that I started to say, ‘OK, I’ll start to pay attention to this problem,’” said Letourneau.

The source of the contamination is unknown.

Letourneau isn’t making any accusations, but wonders if a nearby quarry where multiple cement companies operate a few kilometres upstream could be to blame.

“I took a stick and I put it in the water, and when I pulled it out, there was a substance around the stick. It was greyish. It was cement,” he says.

He reached out Canope, an agency that manages Laval parks.

They tell Global News they’ve made multiple complaints over the years to the Quebec Environment Ministry without noticing any improvement.

“We continue to assure environmental watch by doing patrols regularly. We think that this situation needs to stop for the community and the ecosystem health benefit,” said Canope conservation coordinator Francis Allaire.

Laval’s new mayor said that the situation worries him.

“As this is a file under the provincial government, I asked my employees to quickly contact the team of the Minister of the Laval region and Minister of the Environment, Mr. Benoit Charrette,” said Laval mayor Stephane Boyer.

Letourneau is tired.

“You tell us that we need to protect the environment, climate change, everything. But this is only the beginning. This is A-B-C, and nothing is done about it for years,” said Letourneau.

He’s also spoken with Laval Liberal MNA Saul Polo, who is calling for action as well.

“We’re asking the Minister of Environment to use its full power to protect the environment in Laval and to make sure that these contamination situations that have happened do not replicate or are not reproduced in the near future,”Polo told Global News.

Monday’s Environment Minister Benoit Charette stated that inspections have increased in recent months.

“We are now collaborating more closely with the city of Laval because there are many potential sources of these emissions,” said Charette. “If there’s an enterprise behind that, this enterprise will have to be accountable.”

Laval’s regional environment council (CRE Laval), said it is satisfied the minister responded positively to a recent request to take a closer look at the problem, and will be monitoring the ministry’s work.

Letourneau is encouraged, however, he would like Quebec to act sooner. He wants inspectors to monitor the stream on rainy days, when contamination is more likely, and not days later.

“I want not only talking and ‘we’ll do a study’ and everything. I want action because action speaks louder than words,” he said.

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