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Environment

A City in Quebec Killed Thousands of Fish by Dumping Poop in a River

Saint-Hyacinthe released 8.5 million liters of raw sewage into Yamaska River in June.
The Yamaska River in less shitty times. Photo via Flickr user Gilles Douaire

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Multiple Quebec agencies are investigating after thousands of fish were killed following a massive sewage dump in the city of Saint-Hyacinthe.

The southwestern city unloaded 8.5 million liters of raw sewage—a.k.a. 8.5 Olympic swimming pools of shit—into the Yamaska River on June 28. The "planned overflow of waste water" was part of an expansion of the city's wastewater plant, according to a municipal media release.

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But residents last week found thousands of dead and decaying fish at the bottom of the river. The city has since apologized and said that because the river level was low at the time of the dump, the toxic mix of feces and other microorganisms wasn't as diluted as it should have been, likely leading to the fish massacre.

Speaking to CTV Montreal, Urgence Environnement coordinator Christian Blanchette said ten percent of the water was sewage following the dump.

Saint-Hyacinthe mayor Claude Corbeil accepted responsibility for the mishap.

"There's obviously been a series of bad decisions on the part of the administration," he said in a written statement, adding the city is conducting an internal investigation to "prevent such a situation from happening again."

The Environment Ministry in Quebec is also investigating the matter, and said it did not greenlight the plan. Spokeswoman Mylène Gaudeau said the province will determine if any laws were broken.

Corbeil assured residents Saint-Hyacinthe residents that drinking water in the region is not a concern and that the turn of events isn't indicative of the city's environmental values.

"I will make sure that this is an isolated incident," he said.

Canadian shit river controversies don't seem to be all that isolated, though.

Last November, Montreal faced global scorn for dumping 4.9 billion liters of crap into the St. Lawrence River (originally it was going to spill 8 billion liters). Washington State has also demanded Victoria, BC, stop using the Pacific Ocean like a giant toilet.

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