MONTREAL – Activists gathered at the Old Port Saturday afternoon, to protest the ongoing sewage dump in the Saint-Lawrence River.
READ MORE: The Saint-Lawrence sewage dump is underway
The city’s plans to dump eight billion litres of waste water into the river although widely criticized, was given the go ahead, by the Federal environment minister on Nov. 9.
The discharge started at 12:01 Wednesday morning and when all is said and done, the equivalent of 3200 Olympic-sized pools of raw sewage will have ended up in the river.
READ MORE: This is what 8 billion litres of raw sewage would look like
Citing an online petition that garnered over 95,000 signatures, organizers expressed dismay that the dump was allowed to happen.
Xavier Nonnenmacher, who started the petition, said he was very disappointed in all levels of government.
“It disgusting,” he said. “The river is important, it’s the symbol of Quebec.”
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READ MORE: Thousands sign anti-sewage petition in Montreal
Before the protest, a dozen activists and concerned citizens participated in a clean-up of the shores around the Old Port – a symbolic gesture meant to say “we don’t want any more waste in our river.”
Montreal Mayor, Denis Coderre said the dump is necessary because the city must temporarily close a large sewer that feeds sewage to a treatment facility and alternative solutions would be too costly.
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