Despite mounting opposition, the City of Montreal is going ahead with its plan to dump eight billion litres of untreated wastewater into the St. Lawrence River.
The massive sewage dump is part of work to move a snow chute in a broader plan to demolish the city's downtown Bonaventure Expressway.
The weeklong dump is scheduled to begin on October 18.
But critics of the plan are worried about the environmental impact of diverting eight billion litres of untreated wastewater into the nearly 1,200 kilometre river.
Montreal resident Xavier Nonnenmacher started a Change.org petition in French called "The St. Lawrence is not a garbage" last Friday, which has already garnered nearly 60,000 signatures.
The plan has also drawn the ire of politicians on both sides of the river.
Jici Lauzon, the Green Party candidate for the Quebec riding of Pierre-Boucher-Les Patriotes-Vercheres, says he is working with lawyers and plans to file an injunction.
"The environmental impact is going to be disastrous," said Lauzon. "People are afraid."
New York State Sen. Patty Richie has also written a letter outlining her concerns to the International Joint Commission -- a bilateral group tasked with protecting the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.
Richie believes that the dump could set a dangerous precedent.
But at press conference on Monday, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre deflected Richie's comments.
"The state senator should take care of her own city and take a look at what's going on in New York," said Coderre.
Coderre said he is standing firm on the plan and believes city officials have selected the best option.
"We truly have been through all that grid and that was the only option," said Coderre.
Quebec's environment minister, David Heurtel, agrees with Coderre's assessment, and says that while the plan isn't ideal, the dump needs to go forward.
"If the city doesn't do this work then you have a risk to the (city's) treatment plant," said Heurtel.
"If the treatment plan goes down the impact would be far greater than anything that could be caused by this situation."
Coderre says the same type of procedure also took place in 2003 and 2005.
Both dumps received approval from Environment Canada, but the federal authority has yet to sign off on the current plan.
And Coderre said he would be shocked if it happened this time.
"They can say no if they want, but … I don’t answer hypothetical questions because I truly believe that because we've done that in the past and our experts … put everything in order," said Coderre.
"We will see what happens."
With a report from CTV Montreal's Tarah Schwartz and files from The Canadian Press
