Torrential rain : The City of Châteauguay in solution mode

The torrential rains of August 9 caused flooding in several Châteauguay basements, mainly due to overloading of the sewer system. With further rainfall of this kind likely, the city will be looking at what it can do to improve water management.

Translation Amanda Bennett

“I’m still shaken by this situation,” commented Mayor Eric Allard at the start of the town meeting on August 26. “I know that this feeling of powerlessness when faced with water rising in the basement is discouraging and exhausting because it means a lot of hours of housework."

“Our sanitary sewer system couldn’t take that kind of pressure,’ he added. It’s like emptying a bath through a straw.”
The municipality wants to focus more on separating sanitary and storm sewers and on retaining rainwater. Mr. Allard gave the example of the work on boulevard D’Anjou, which includes the separation of sewers.

“There are still 16 km of combined sewer network, for a total of 49 streets that are still affected by future major work,” he said.

“It’s important to complete our stormwater network because this water shouldn’t be going into our treatment plants. It should end up in the river.”

By July 2025, Châteauguay should have a SCADA system installed in each of its water treatment plants, so it will know how much water is there and be able to monitor it without having to call in crews.

The city also intends to draw up a master plan to protect Châteauguay from the impact of climate change, as well as a rainwater management plan.

Eric Allard reports that all the municipality’s equipment was operational when the rain fell on August 9.

Reminders 

Châteauguay is reminding residents of actions they can take to reduce the risk of flooding, such as maintaining a backflow valve.

Sump pumps are also recommended for emptying water into storm drains.

The Mayor also spoke about ditches, which are disappearing from the area.

“A number of ditches have disappeared because they weren’t beautiful,’ he said. But there are several streets that should have them. That’s going to be one of the things we’ll have to look at.”

Residents’ situations

Several residents recounted the water backups they experienced during the recent torrential rains.

Fanny Rochefort, a resident of Jeffries Street, described the “significant” water backups she experienced, while Eric Allard pointed out that new neighbourhoods like his have “very strict” stormwater management requirements.

Mr. Allard said he “did not understand” and that the city would look into the matter.