In force since October 8, the moratorium suspending the issuance of certain permits and certificates within its urban perimeter, due to the saturation of its sewage system, has not met with unanimous approval on council. Indeed, Councillor Charles Meunier is strongly opposed.

At the last regular meeting, the District 1 councillor said he knew too little about the dossier to make an informed decision, noting in passing that he himself is an engineer specializing in water purification.

“I haven't had much information on the upgrading of our water treatment plant for too long. I've asked several questions to which I haven't received satisfactory answers, or which will be answered in due course. With the information I have, I consider that the administration, and here I include elected officials and civil servants, has not done its job, and now we'd be up against a wall that would force us to freeze all new permits that could generate more pollution to the treatment plant. Ouch! (...) I'm an engineer specializing in water treatment. I would have liked to have been able to consult the documents that would have convinced me that we should adopt this resolution,” he declared.

The suspension of the issuance of certain permits and certificates is the result of the latest report by FD Expert Conseil, obtained by the City in July 2024. According to the report, the plant no longer has any residual capacity. 

“Since the lagoons have reached their ultimate capacity and several construction projects submitted prior to the suspension are in the process of being completed and increasing wastewater inputs, the City must take concrete action today to enable it to meet its environmental protection obligations. These actions include the purchase and installation of three new surface aerators, at a cost of nearly $43,000, to improve the efficiency of the ponds, and the annual emptying of sludge, which is generally required every ten years. In addition, during underground infrastructure rehabilitation work in older sectors of the city, all unified conduits will be separated into sanitary and storm conduits,” stated the city in a press release.

The duration of the suspension will depend on the time required to bring the plant and its ponds up to standard, so as to optimally meet all of Rigaud's current and future needs, in the best interests of taxpayers. The provisional by-law is valid for a maximum of two years, and may be renewed, if necessary, after this period, until the wastewater treatment system is brought up to standard.

“Yes, I want to protect the environment, it's very important to me and I talked about it during my election campaign and I've continued to talk about it ever since. But how did we get to where we are today?” added the councillor.

Years of waiting

In 2010, the Town carried out an initial preliminary study to assess the capacity of its ponds. However, after being turned down for funding under the Fonds pour l'infrastructure municipale d'eau (FIMEAU), it decided to put the project on hold until 2016, considering that the lifespan of this type of facility could be longer.

In a press release, the municipal administration reports that several studies and analyses have been commissioned since 2016.

“Successive administrations have commissioned various studies and analyses; issued calls for tender; requested clarifications; obtained reports, plans and specifications, as well as recommendations based on different criteria, parameters and processes; and received estimates for upgrading the plant and ponds ranging from $3.5 million (in 2016), to $12.2 million (in 2019), to $15.4 million (in 2019), and finally to $23.7 million (in 2021). To date, these discrepancies have not enabled elected officials to make a fair and informed decision, taking into account the promise of a provincial government subsidy of just over $10 million in 2020,” reads the press release.

However, by 2021, a contribution of $10,086,768 million had indeed been granted to the City by the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec through its “ Fonds pour l'infrastructure municipale d'eau (FIMEAU)” program. The total project was, at the time, estimated at $14.5 million.

“I can understand citizens wondering how it is that the file doesn't seem to have moved forward since, among other things, the grant was announced in February 2021,” the councillor hinted. “I'm still wondering why we're behind schedule with the wastewater treatment plant project. Now we have to vote on a draft resolution with far-reaching consequences. The slowdown in our town's development, the loss of tax revenues and the famous delays in our wastewater treatment plant project mean that we're going to pay a lot more.”

For his part, District 6 Councillor Alain Lapointe recalled the involvement of the previous administration in the matter. “We all know that this was undertaken before the start of our mandate and that it (the file) was dropped, because there were defects. So everything has to start all over again. In 2010, the ponds should have been brought up to standard, but that wasn't done because there were other, more gargantuan projects.”

Development of the Dr Oscar-Gendron industrial park

According to Charles Meunier, one of the reasons cited for the long delays in bringing the wastewater treatment plant up to standard was the need to carry out a study to assess the possibility of changing the vocation, in part, of the Dr Oscar-Gendron industrial park.

“To design the treatment plant, we need to estimate the pollution we'll have to treat. If we estimate, for example, that the population for the next 25 years will be 2,500, we don't need to know whether these people will settle in downtown Rigaud or elsewhere. If hundreds of families were to settle in Dr Oscar-Gendron Park, there would be an impact on the design of the sewer system, on the infrastructure to pass under the Rigaud River, on the need for local services. But that wouldn't have any effect on the design criteria for the wastewater treatment plant. So I don't understand the connection,” explains the councillor.

Still according to Mr. Meunier, the development of the industrial park does not require lengthy studies to estimate the amount of pollution. “We don't need long studies to estimate the amount of pollution that new businesses would discharge into our treatment plant, we just have to impose it, to invite businesses that don't generate a lot of pollution. As we could easily estimate what the full development of the park would mean for the design of the plant. So, I don't see why we should delay the project for these reasons.”

Measures hoped for in the next budget

Finally, Charles Meunier questions the municipal administration's intentions as it prepares its budget for 2025.

“We wonder whether there will be any plans to speed up the process of bringing the wastewater treatment plant up to standard. Will we make it a priority? Can we also speed up the process of implementing strategies to reduce pressure on our wastewater treatment plant? Will we set aside funds to accelerate the process of implementing strategies to reduce pressure on our wastewater treatment plant, and free up capacity to allow real estate and other projects to move forward? All these elements can be useful for strategic and responsible planning of our facilities, to have a vision, plan actions and maintain a dashboard so that elected officials and the population can be kept informed,” he concludes.

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Saturated sewer system: Rigaud suspends issuance of certain permits