Photo: Martin C. Barry • NEWSFIRST
Historically low water levels on the Rivière des Mille Îles has prompted provincial officials
to undertake special measures along the bank of the river in the City of Deux-Montagnes.

Some residents of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th avenues in the City of Deux-Montagnes who have property near the Rivière des Mille Îles are worried about an excavation project the Quebec environment ministry has started along the river’s edge to deal with a dangerously low water level.

Lowest water in decades
During town council’s Aug. 12 meeting, a spokesman for the neighbours expressed concern to Mayor Marc Lauzon about the unknown impact of the work on their properties. In view of the lowest level of water seen in the last 80 years, the ministry decided to undertake this emergency work, bypassing all the usual protocols in order to do so, said Mayor Marc Lauzon.
Lauzon said Deux-Montagnes gave its permission for the work to be carried out, but asked that certain conditions be respected, including that the work be done only from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. A wooden wall was also erected along the river’s edge to reduce some of the noise coming from the work site.

A regional problem
The fact that the work is being done to control the overall water level on the Rivière des Mille Îles, but not necessarily the level at Deux-Montagnes, has some residents especially concerned about their own properties and homes. About 400,000 people who live in 11 municipalities along or near the Rivière des Mille Îles from St-Eustache to Terrebonne could be affected by the low water level.
The environment ministry is blaming a lack of snow last winter and a dry spring for the low level of the river. The ministry hopes to help re-establish the water level by excavating the riverbed 60 to 75 centimeters downward at the junction of the Rivière des Mille Îles and Lake of Two Mountains.

Local water level
Lauzon acknowledged receiving complaints from some residents worried that the removal of large stones on the water’s edge could change the water level in the immediate area of Deux-Montagnes. The mayor said that even though Deux-Montagnes itself isn’t necessarily as seriously affected by the drop in water level, it would have been difficult to turn down a request for cooperation since it is a regional emergency situation.
Addressing the mayor, one 10th Ave. resident who claimed who to have some knowledge of the type of problem, said the excavation of the stones is removing a “natural barrier” against waves rolling in from the south-west area of Lake of Two Mountains, especially in the spring. He said he personally paid for the services of a hydrologist who apparently confirmed that there is a potential for increased risk to property in the area where the river excavation work is now being done.

Negotiating with Quebec
Lauzon told him that the city is now involved in a phase of “negotiation” with Quebec, rather than “confrontation,” but that there is an emergency situation to deal with nonetheless. “If three days from now there are cities on the North Shore who don’t have water and fires break out and catastrophe follows, that’s my position,” he said. He downplayed the idea of the city hiring lawyers or using strong-arm tactics to respond to the government. But he did not rule out that Deux-Montagnes might respond if in the fall there were signs that the excavation work caused some side-effects to property owners next to the river.