A person formerly responsible for the production of drinking water and a Chateauguay municipal councillor reject the explanation of the lack of rain to justify the feeble production of drinking water in Chateauguay. The City, from its viewpoint, persists by saying that the precipitation plays “an enormous role” in that production.
Jean-Pierre Jacques, who was responsible for the production of drinking water in Chateauguay for 30 years, has difficulty understanding that the City can only deliver the merchandise at a fraction of its capacity. It delivers at about 47,000 m3/per day though the capacity is 119,000 m3/per day.
The man who occupied the job as superintendent of hygiene of the milieu of the municipality from 1976 to 2006 affirms that the weak precipitation has nothing to do with the situation.
“The rain has no influence on the production of drinking water,” insists Mr. Jacques. This is because the municipality’s wells are supplied with water thanks to a system of pumping Lake St. Louis. “As long as the water faucet in the lake is under the water, the ground-level water table keeps getting re-nourished,” assures the retired expert. “The lake’s level is not excessively low.”
According to him, two problems can explain the phenomenon: a bad functioning of the recharge trenches or some blocked strainers. The strainers are the perforated hoses placed at the bottom of the wells to suck in the water.
The City, in its opinion, should consult an expert to have no more doubts. “A study must be ordered from a hydro-geologist,” Mr. Jacques advises.
Marcel Deschamps, a long-time Chateauguay City Councillor, wrote to Le Soleil to denounce the weak production of drinking water and the explanations furnished by Mayor Pierre-Paul Routhier on the subject at the Council’s July 6 assembly. “We have a large capacity for water production as long as we have water. The situation will reabsorb itself when we have some rain,” claimed the premier magistrate.
These are words which made Deschamps react. “The only two criteria which can influence this are: the level of the lake, which is currently higher than normal, and the good functioning of our two recharging ditches which feed the water table. It’s just the same not normal that the Mayor of the City is not aware of the facts. Unless he does it deliberately,” Deschamps writes in an email.
“Again, today, we are barely producing 47,300 m3/per day. There is a serious problem, but we prefer to blame that on the lack of rain. The rain has nothing to do with it and I am putting my position as city councillor at risk if one can pretend the contrary.”
Erroneous information: says City
The City of Chateauguay refutes Mrs. Jacques and Deschamps’ words. “The rain plays an enormous role in the production of drinking water in Chateauguay,” says City communications director Stephanie Gosselin. “People who claim the contrary have erroneous information or information which is not news and does not reflect the reality of our days.”
(Translation Dan Rosenburg)
