Successful Decontamination in the Port of Montreal

Here’s a success story we wouldn’t mind seeing repeated! This success story is the decontamination of sediment in the two bays in the eastern section of the Port of Montreal – Sector 103. This site, one of the most polluted sites on the St. Lawrence, has been over 98% decontaminated. The costs of this operation were entirely and voluntarily assumed by three industry partners and the Montreal Port Authority. Total costs: approximately $10 million.



Port of Montreal - Sector 103
Photo: Montreal Port Authority

The field work took place over a few months in 2007; however, it took some 15 years to get all the stakeholders together, conduct the necessary studies, agree on cost-sharing, and develop the best action strategy for dealing with this complex case. The result is that one of the largest-ever industry-financed remediation projects has successfully erased 50 years’ (1920–1970) worth of untreated industrial and municipal effluent in a Montréal section of the St. Lawrence River.

“It took a long time, but it was worth it,” affirms Caroll Bélanger, who initiated the project in his role as the head of the federal contaminated aquatic sites remediation program, Environment Canada, Quebec Region.

Specialized machinery used for the contaminated sediment
Photo: Jacques-Cartier ZIP Committee

A Collective Effort

The alarm bells went off in 1993. In response to observations, Environment Canada’s Environmental Emergencies Unit had to intervene seven times in three months to remove films of oil floating in the two bays. 

Seeking to work collaboratively, Environment Canada moved quickly to involve key players who, as they were obviously partly responsible for the past contamination of the sediments, willingly agreed to help solve the problem. Accordingly, the Montreal Port Authority and three businesses--Imperial (Esso), Shell and Xstrata (formerly Noranda)--came together with Environment Canada, as part of the St. Lawrence Plan.

A second group was created to work alongside the first one, made up of local organizations and representatives from the community, the Ville de Montréal and Quebec’s Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP). This advisory group worked on the project for 10 years under the coordination of the Jacques‑Cartier ZIP Committee, which functioned as a liaison between the experts and local residents.

The Advisory Group established in the spring of 1999 brought together several organizations concerned about sediment decontamination. In the spring of 2007, this group was renamed the Monitoring Committee to reflect its role in monitoring the progress of the project.
Photo: Jacques-Cartier ZIP Committee

During the dredging (April–December 2007), over 50 000 m³ of contaminated sediment was removed from the river--the equivalent of 5000 truckloads--with minimal inconvenience (noise, dust, odours) to the local residents.

This is the first decontamination project of this magnitude in Quebec, both in terms of complexity and volume of material treated, states Mr. Bélanger. “What’s more,” he adds, “the partnership approach that we took and the involvement of the community made this an innovative and inspiring project. The entire operation,” he says with conviction, “will serve as a model for future remediation projects.”