{"id":2281,"date":"2009-04-01T01:46:37","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T05:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/2009\/04\/01\/montreals-underground-underdogs\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T12:03:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T17:03:06","slug":"montreals-underground-underdogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/04\/01\/montreals-underground-underdogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal’s Underground Underdogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the Molson Collector, somewhere beneath Rue Dickson in 2007. <\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to Montreal’s underground achievements, the Metro system tends to get a lot of the attention. Its sewer system, on the other hand\u2014 not so much. This isn’t really all that suprising. The subway system is something people both use and see<\/em> all the time, and it’s also a fair bit more complicated than a network of tunnels designed to carry fluids. Still, in terms of tunneling achievements, the sewers built during the 1950s are worth taking a closer look at if only because they’re so often ignored.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Decarie Raimbault Collector during construction in 1958. <\/span><\/p>\n

By the time ground was broken for the first metro line in 1962, close to a decade had already passed since tunnels just as large and as long had been dug out below the surface of the island. As the populations of communities like Ville St. Laurent and Ahuntsic exploded during the post-war boom, problems began to surface beneath the ground. The existing sewer system, with pipes no larger than seven feet in diameter, could no longer handle the demands being put on it. Floods were increasing as were the number of complaints from people getting fed up with sewage spilling out into the streets and\u00a0 basements.<\/p>\n

Household waste was only part of the problem, though. The increase in pavement meant that stormwater previously absorbed by the soil was now running directly into the sewers via catch-basins and street gutters.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Flooded streets in Ville St. Laurent during the 1950s.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the 1950s, it became obvious that a more substantial water and sewage disposal system was necessary. Actual treatment wasn\u2019t yet an option, let alone on the table as a viable long-term strategy. Decades would pass before the island began work to reach that stage (see my entry on the island\u2019s Interceptor System<\/a>).<\/p>\n

No, the idea here was simply to get everything into swift waters of Riviere Des Prairies or the St. Lawrence as efficiently as possible, where it would be whisked away from the island someone else to have to worry about.<\/p>\n