Gone, but not forgotten

Yesterday the City of Sherbrooke removed the large mound of garbage from the site of a new chlorination station being built for Huntingville residents on Winder Street.

According to Caroline Gravel, Director of Urban Infrastructure and the Environment, the exposed garbage posed no risk to citizens and has been delivered to Valoris for processing.

The rubble was uncovered roughly a month ago when the City began work on a chlorination station on Winder Street between Mallory and Campbell.

According to Gravel, the City was fully aware that the location for the project was a former dumpsite for Lennoxville.

Former Lennoxville Borough President David Price said there used to be a big hole on the property in question stretching all the way to the railroad tracks.

“It’s nothing now, no big secret,” Price said. When he first got involved in municipal politics in 1988-89, the dump was already closed, but he said in the years before that, cars used to back their cars on Carl Street to unload into the dump.

“The river was tested over and over,” Price said, explaining that the water quality, or the wells just across the river that used to provide Lennoxville’s drinking water, were never affected by the dump.

Gravel said the City’s intention was to build the station close to the road to avoid running into any garbage. When the plan changed and the project moved a bit further into the woods, that’s when the workers uncovered the debris, Gravel said. At that point, they stopped.

Two different studies have been done to ensure that the uncovered debris was not toxic or posed any threat to moving ahead with the project.

The chlorination station is simply an injection point, Gravel explained, so there is no risk of water being contaminated by housing the station on top of the former dumpsite.

While the City awaits final approval from the Ministry of Environment to continue work, Gravel said there is a temporary chlorination set up for Huntingville residents to maintain the quality of their water until the station is built. Work is expected to resume by the end of June, Gravel said.

When asked why the debris was left exposed and uncovered for close to a month, Gravel admitted that the City should have either covered or removed it immediately.

While unsightly, Gravel stressed that the debris contained no PCBS or hazardous materials that could have an impact on surrounding residents.