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MONTREAL – The sewer repair work that led the city of Montreal to dump raw sewage directly into the St. Lawrence river was completed three days early, the city announced Saturday.

In a statement, the city reported its wastewater was once again being treated normally after 89 hours of work.

Early Wednesday, the city began dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the river to access and perform critical repair work on the support arches of a major sanitary sewer as well as relocate a snow chute.

READ MORE: Montreal protesters denounce ongoing sewage dump

The city said the amount of sewage dumped had been downgraded from an estimated 8 billion litres down to 4.9 billion since the work was completed in four days instead of seven.

The statement credited “the unwavering commitment of experts, technical staff and project partners” for the early finish.

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The city had already announced late Friday that 17 kilometres of the sewer being repaired was reopened and wastewater was being treated in that sector again.