Dam Dismantling Underway

The Kahnawà:ke Environment Protect Office is dismantling the underflow dam at the boundary line between Kahnawà:ke and Chateauguay. In a statement KEPO says they made the decision after several rounds of sampling have shown no additional fuel entering Kahnawà:ke over the past month. Benjamin Green-Stacey, Director of KEPO says that following testing results, there will also be a gradual removal of booms along the Suzanne River in Kahnawake:

“This is taking place at the boundary right between Chateauguay and Kahnawà:ke. We are going to be removing all of the materials that were placed, all the sandbags that were placed, the underflow piping – the PVC piping – all of the absorbent materials that were used in the construction of the underflow dam are going to be removed and properly disposed of. They are obviously saturated at this point with water and with fuel contaminant and so they have to be disposed of properly and carefully and we’re going to be doing that, taking every necessary step to make sure it’s done the right way.” 

Green-Stacey on if residents should be concerned that the dam is being removed:

“At this point we’ve been doing continual testing of the water that’s coming into the territory and we have for the past month not seen any new fuel that’s coming from this fuel site in Chateauguay and so  we are confident now that there’s no more residuals coming into the territory and that at this time we can begin the removal of the dam and other protective barriers that were put in place and this is going to be a ‘net-positive’ for fish and fish migration that’s supposed to be happening this time of year.”

The underflow dam, along with other protective devices were installed in February, following complaints and concerns of a diesel fuel smell from Kahnawakehró:non as a result of an oil spill in the city of Chateauguay’s Industrial Park. The source of the spill was traced to a business on Ford Boulevard.