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Coderre revealed Monday the city carried out similar projects in 2003 and 2007, diverting roughly the same amount of untreated waste water into the river.

His administration has come under fire for not publicly announcing the plan or alerting municipalities downstream. The city says there will be no effects on drinking water because the effluent will be diluted in the voluminous St. Lawrence and all municipalities treat their water. Experts in water treatment have backed up those claims. Surfing, swimming and boating are not recommended, however.

The city’s head of waste water operations, Richard Fontaine, noted that 30 years ago the city dumped all of its sewage untreated into the St. Lawrence. Now 99 per cent of the waste water is treated. More than 8,000 cubic metres a second flows down the St. Lawrence. The city’s sewage dumping will be equivalent to 12 cubic metres a second, he said.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel, however, took a break from the election campaign to express doubts.

“We are very concerned about the situation,” he said in a statement. “Environment Canada’s Enforcement Branch has already pointed out that the Fisheries Act prohibits the unauthorized depositing of deleterious substances in any type of water frequented by fish.”

Coderre accused the Conservative minister of using the city’s sewage issues as a political tool to gain votes during the campaign.

The option we decided on, we didn’t have a choice

Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel backed Montreal’s decision, saying it had little option and couldn’t risk the consequences of not acting.