Sewage dump, day 3: Montreal tests industrial wastewater

The City of Montreal collectedsamples of industrial wastewater in Montreal East on Friday, to verifywhat's going into the sewers from industrial sites as the week-long dump of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River continues into its third day.

The controversial sewage dump is diverting as much as eight billion litres of untreated effluent into the river while a major sewer interceptor is repaired and upgraded.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said the results of earlier water tests forfecal matter should be known by late in the day Friday.

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More water samples coming

The results of other water quality testswill be announced overthe next few days.

The City of Montreal said it would takesamples from the St. Lawrence before, during and after the sewage dump.

The townof Longueuil on Montreal's South Shore has been conducting its own tests of drinking water and river water.The results have been normal so far, said the city.

"Following daily checks, it was confirmed that the water of the Longueuil agglomeration networkis fit for consumption,"said the City ofLongueuilto the CBC in a statement.

"No changes were made to the way drinking water is treated, and no changes were detected in the quality of the water that flows intothe river."

Longueuil said that it will continue to monitor its water quality levels several times a day over the period of Montreal's sewage dump.

Updates on interceptor repairs

Coderretold reporters that the construction work that began at midnight on Wednesday remainsslightly ahead of schedule.

As of Friday,34of 56 deteriorated steel braceswereremoved fromthe sewer interceptor. These 15.7-metre corroded braces represented a riskand a nuisance to the drainage capacity of the interceptor, city engineers have explained.

After descending into Montreal's sewer system on Thursday, Coderresaid he isconfident thathe made the right decision to go aheadwith the repairs, even though it necessitateddumpingeight billion litres of wastewater into the river.