A pungent smell is driving people living near the St. James Creek in Pointe-Claire indoors, and it turns out Kirkland may be to blame.
For the past month, Pointe-Claire Ave. residents have been coping with the nasty neighbour, asking the city to respond and find the source of the smell.
The stench is so strong, resident Pixie Drury said at times she has to shut all her windows and keep her children inside.
“The whole street has basically been chased out of their backyards,” she said.
The creek borders both Pointe Claire and Beaconsfield. Both municipalities say they're on the case.
Drury said neither seems to want to take on the problem.
“They've been basically calling us, returning our calls, but saying they're passing it on to this department and that department and that department,” she said.
The source of the stench, however, may actually be coming from nearby Kirkland, where an electrical panel connected to the sewage pumps underground failed on several occasions this summer.
“The electrical panel blew so we had no electricity and the effluent was still coming into the station,” explained Samir Massabni, Kirkland’s director of engineering. “We had to call in vehicles to cart all the effluent away and meanwhile it was either letting the effluent going back to the homes or pumping it somewhere else.”
The raw sewage then trickled into the St. James Creek, which winds its way south to Lac St. Louis.
Water tests taken from the creek showed spikes of coliform bacteria in the summer.
Kirkland said it has plans to replace the old sewage pump and is renting pumps in the meantime.
“We know we do have an issue and we're working to solve that issue. Other municipalities are working on theirs. Hopefully when everything comes together, there won't be a problem anymore,” said Massabni.
The city can't say how long that will take.
