Cleaning up the Pike River - Millions for sewage, drinkable water

Life along the Pike River is going to get a little cleaner following the announcement Monday of sewage and water upgrades in Frelighsburg, Stanbridge East and Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge.

“This file is one of our most important files for the quality of the Pike River and Missisquoi Bay,” said Brome-Missisquoi Liberal MNA Pierre Paradis at a press conference in Frelighsburg. “It affects the quality of life of thousands and thousands of people.”

Joined by member of Parliament Jacques Gourde, Paradis held separate press conferences in each of the three affected towns. In all over $9.7 million worth of infrastructure work will be done over the next couple of years, providing the three villages with proper municipal sewage systems for the first time.

In Frelighsburg a total of $4.4 million will be spent on both sewage and on providing the village with potable H2O. The town has been under a drinking water advisory ever since its well was declared contaminated in the summer of 2006.

Some $400,000 has been earmarked to cover the costs of finding a source and connecting it to the existing municipal system. Much of that work has already been done, and testing is now underway to ensure the new source has enough capacity to supply 95 residences (and their 275 residents) and about a dozen businesses in the village.

“Here we had no proper drinking water in the prettiest village in all of Quebec,” Paradis noted.

Frelighsburg Mayor Gilles Chabot said the sewage project was first put on the table a couple of years ago. In the meantime the water problem cropped up, so the town made a single request to cover both projects.

The sewage system project will likely take a little longer to complete. Chabot said the municipality is still considering which system to use. A location for the treatment facility hasn’t been established either.

“It’s a balance of finding the most ecological system for the best price,” he said.Chabot said the location will be determined by the fact that the village is in a valley, and that some spots are in flood zones.

The projects will see the federal and provincial governments put in $1,561,667 each, with the municipality adding another $1,276,666 to the pot. Chabot noted that’s a lot of money for a small village, an average of $4,642 per person. Work on the sewage system is expected to be completed by March 31, 2009.

The project may also see some outlying residents who won’t be connected to the system having to upgrade their septic systems.

Stanbridge East
Downstream in Stanbridge East another $1.7 million will be spent to establish a sewage system. Through the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, Quebec and Canada will each put up $664,917, while another $420,166 will be contributed by Stanbridge East.

The system will gather and collect sewage along 1,445 metres in the heart of the village. A pumping station will get it to the treatment facility, where an ultraviolet light system will be used to remove phosphates and disinfect the sewage. In all some 195 people will be on the system.

Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge
A few kilometres further down the Pike River, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge will have just over $3.6 million worth of work done so that the village will become more environmentally friendly. In all some 3,140 metres of sewage lines will be installed, connecting some 402 residents to a new sewage system. The system itself will include pumping stations and an aerated pond treatment system.

The municipality will itself contribute $922,544 to the project, while the federal and provincial governments will each put up $1,352,083 under the infrastructure program.

“It is an important day for the population of Brome-Missisquoi,” Paradis said. “It is also important for our neighbours in Vermont and New York.”

Paradis noted that a number of efforts have been made to clean up the water going into Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi Bay in recent years, from new farming practices to better municipal sewage systems to the creation of an ecological reserve in St-Armand and the removal of part of the Alburg-Swanton causeway, which improves water flow. The result: While many Quebec lakes were plagued by blue-green algae, Missisquoi Bay remained relatively algae-free.

“When you add up all of these actions, you get results,” Paradis said.

By Maurice Crossfield
The Sherbrooke Record, Jan. 15