Quebec City dumps 46 million litres of raw sewage into St. Lawrence River

Quebec City dumped about 46 million litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River over 12 hours in order to do scheduled maintenance work on a pumping station, the city said Friday.

A spokesperson for the city said everything went as planned.

The city said earlier this week that neglecting to do the repairs could lead to equipment breakdowns and more serious environmental problems down the line.

“Failure to carry out this maintenace work could lead to major breaks in the equipment,” the city wrote in a press release.

The riverbanks were to be inspected following the work.

Quebec City treats about 137 billion liters of wastewater annually.

Montreal’s administration was widely criticized in 2015 for dumping 4.9 billion litres of raw sewage into the river.

An original estimate of eight billion litres was downgraded after the city finished its sewer repair work three days early.