Like the October 5 meeting, nearly fifty citizens from Saint-Télesphore, Saint-Polycarpe and surrounding areas attended the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC council meeting held this Wednesday, October 25. 

Once again, they questioned the elected officials in the hope of getting answers, or at least reassurance, regarding the project to set up a composting platform in Saint-Télesphore.

The risk of contamination of the esker located near the site chosen by the MRC, and consequently of drinking water, the increase in trucking traffic in the area, and the risks to neighbouring farmland were once again the subject of questioning and challenges.

Discussions were lively, and tempers flared at times.

"Have you studied the possibility of contamination? How are you going to supply water to all those citizens with artesian wells?" asked a resident of Saint-Polycarpe, opening the question period.

In response, Patrick Bousez, prefect and president of the assembly, reiterated that the project is subject to approval by the Ministère de l'Environnement de la Lutte contre les Changements climatiques. He also took the opportunity to announce that an information session will be held on November 29, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., in Très-Saint-Rédempteur.

"Your concerns are perfectly legitimate. That said, everything is subject to approval by the Ministry of the Environment. In fact, they'll be joining us on November 29. They're going to explain the whole procedure, all the studies we have to deal with, and there are an awful lot of them," he said.

Several minutes of argument followed. "It's not too late. The choice to make would be to back away from your decision. We're just asking you to choose a more judicious site for the development of the platform, more judicious for the future of the families supplied by the artesian wells. No one here is against composting, it's the site that's the problem," added the citizen.

"If I were you, I'd have the same concerns, but we still need a lot of information and a lot of studies. There are consultations to be held with the Ministry of the Environment before we can make any statements, without knowing what we're getting into. Then we can analyze things. For the moment, we're talking about things we're not sure about, and neither are you. I think we'll let the process move forward, and from there, we'll be able to continue," said Saint-Lazare mayor Geneviève Lachance.

It should be noted that on September 20, at a special meeting of the MRC council, Ms. Lachance voted against Borrowing By-law 256 authorizing an $830,000 expense and loan for the purchase of land and contingent fees for the establishment of a regional composting facility in Vaudreuil-Soulanges. 

Mayors Marie-Claude Frigault (Rigaud) and Chloé Hutchison (Hudson) also voted against the by-law. 

"We're going to concentrate on the studies we have to do. If it's not conclusive, we'll be the first to say we can't do it there and it ends up there," added Mr. Bousez.

Emergency plan

At the microphone, another Saint-Télesphore citizen questioned the elected officials about the implementation of an emergency plan and social acceptability.

"By telling us that you're going to put wells around the platform to monitor and analyze whether the water is contaminated, you're telling us that there's a risk, a danger. At the Saint-Télesphore information session, we asked you if you had an emergency plan in case of a wastewater spill. You invented, on the spot, that you were going to bring in tankers, depending on the weather, to empty the pond. Basically, this answer is absurd. You're presenting us with the biggest project the MRC has ever undertaken, but you have no emergency plan to avoid this kind of problem. I wasn't reassured at all after the information session. You reminded us that social acceptability was at the heart of the project. With all the people here tonight, everything you're hearing, do you have the impression that this project is accepted by your citizens?"

Hugues Charbonneau, General Manager of the Société de gestion des matières résiduelles de Vaudreuil-Soulanges at the MRC, said: "We understand your concerns and we're taking them into account... The MRC is fighting a battle for drinking water, and there is a search for drinking water in this MRC more than in others. There is a real concern."

Finally, when asked if he would reconsider the choice of site, the prefect made it clear: "Not for the moment".

The question period ended after 30 minutes, leaving many citizens dissatisfied.