April 13th, 2016 — Montréal has recently published the map of former dumps on its territory. It enumerates 94 quarries, and 12 surface dumps on which residences have been built, states the daily Le Devoir. In many cases, their location remains approximate.
Citizens can thus verify if they live “on the site of a former quarry, which would have been used to accumulate waste, and the soils thereof could be contaminated”, adds Le Devoir. Certain zones where these dump yards were located are well identified, but, others are localized “only with a mere star”.
Furthermore, the information remains incomplete, as some suburbs are not mentioned on this map, such as LaSalle, L’Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève, Montréal-Nord and Saint-Léonard.
Montréal states that according to the “Direction régionale de la santé publique” (Regional Public Health Board), the health risks for citizens are “very low”. Some 350 residential sites have been tested during the last months. They have revealed no active biogas. We remind you that these dumps yards date back to between 60 to 90 years.
However Sylvain Ouellet, a City councillor of “Projet Montréal”, sees things differently. In fact, these former dump yards are potentially problematic, as they may cause problems related to the soils bearing capacity.
“Maybe it has stabilized, but maybe with rain fall, there could be movements in the soil. This could be problematic form an insurance standpoint and potentially be dangerous “. If the danger is not immediate, it remains that contaminated soils exceeding the prescribed standards could reduce home values and condos located thereon.
For his part, lawyer Odette Nadon, active in the field of environmental rights, thinks that the City of Montréal is liable towards its citizens in this file. She reminds us that a Public Works report from the City underlined, in 1994, that additional investigations should be carried out in the residential areas located near Baldwin Park.
This report contains sensitive elements, for example a potential reduction of the value of the immovables affected, along with the liability of the City.
Montréal, April 13th, 2016
