In operation for several months, the new wastewater treatment system of L’Anse-Saint-Jean was the subject of an announcement on Monday during which the government of Quebec confirmed having provided aid of 22 million dollars.
The sum made it possible to carry out major work in the municipality of Bas-Saguenay. Since 2022, various projects have been successfully completed.
The roadway on rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste was resurfaced thanks to this amount.
Rain and wastewater management has also been improved.
Until a few months ago, screeners filtered pieces of dirty water. These were thrown without biological treatment into the Saguenay River.
A long-awaited project
Wastewater management has been discussed and awaited for nearly 25 years in L’Anse-Saint-Jean.
The scale of the work, if we look at the aerated ponds, is still very important. I don’t know how many truck trips were made, but it was phenomenal to see and the work also in the heart of the village and on the main street, from the church to the corner of the roads. It was still impressive. So, it was a very, very important challenge which was met brilliantly, said the mayor of Anjeanne, Richard Perron, on Monday morning.
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Aerated ponds have an impressive size.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Annie-Claude Brisson
The work was made possible thanks to the financial participation of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
The project was 95% subsidized by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. For the remaining 5%, we were able to apply part of the technology, i.e. $700 to $800,000 that we were able to put into this project, so there remained $300,000 to $400,000 which was at the responsibility of the Municipality, continued the mayor.
A program in place
Anse-Saint-Jean now has a compliant wastewater treatment system, but this is not the case everywhere in Quebec. The provincial government ensures that programs exist.
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The mayor of L’Anse-Saint-Jean, Richard Perron, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, and the MP for Dubuc, François Tremblay, took part in the press conference.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Annie-Claude Brisson
We still have 2.4 billion that we have just invested in the PRIMEAU program, for all municipalities in Quebec. Then, we say, it is essential to work and improve our municipal water infrastructure and wastewater treatment plants too. I am very lucky because I see that municipalities now understand the priority of climate change, said Minister Andrée Laforest, also MP for Chicoutimi-Nord.
According to the latest data, 77 municipalities in Quebec were still dumping their wastewater into the environment last June.
