JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report

With an aging water treatment plant that has reached its processing capacity, the Town of Rigaud has issued a moratorium on building permits and any other construction certificates that would result in increased wastewater output.

“Right now, we’re maxed out,” Geneviève Hamel, communications director for the town, told The 1019 Report.

Hamel explained that the town is examining different solutions to resolve the issue, but that the first step is to determine how the town’s wastewater output will grow over time.

“We have to figure out how much development we’re going to have over the next 40, 50 years,” Hamel said.

In the meantime, all permit applications for construction, reconstruction or renovation within the town’s urban centre filed after Oct. 8 will be analyzed by the town’s urban planning department. Receiving a permit under these circumstances would depend on whether the project would increase the strain on the town’s wastewater network.

This measure will last “a maximum of two years and may be renewed, if necessary, after this period, until the wastewater treatment system is brought up to standard,” the town said in a statement. However, Hamel predicted that it may take longer than that.

“Realistically, we have to first do the conception of the solutions, then have somebody put a price on it,” she explained, adding: “We don’t see it happening in the next two years. It (the permit freeze) will probably be renewed.”

Rigaud’s wastewater treatment plant, including four aeration ponds, was constructed in 1985, 39 years ago, with a then-predicted lifespan of between 25 to 30 years. The ponds can each hold nearly as much water as five Olympic swimming pools (17,000 square metres) and was designed to treat up to 2,650 square metres of water a day from residential homes, commercial businesses and industrial sites in Rigaud. However, with population growth and development in the region, the plant now treats around 3,000 square metres of water a day.

One possible solution being studied would be to split the city’s wastewater treatment network in two, between the eastern and western portions along the Rigaud River. The existing plant would then be renovated to manage the wastewater of the eastern portion of the town, where around 70 per cent of Rigaud’s population resides, while a small plant would be constructed to manage the western portion, serving the remaining 30 per cent of residents. This is one of several solutions the town is studying, Hamel explained.

In the meantime, she said that the town is working closely with citizens to determine how it should proceed, specifically concerning how they pictures the town growing in the next few decades – be it growing in residences, commercial businesses or industry – and how the wastewater treatment plant can accommodate the vision of that future. The town is compiling answers from a recent survey it sent out to residents on this topic.