Montreal borough swaps parking lot for green space to fight future floods

Volunteers dug up a parking lot at a Lachine school on Saturday and began turning it into a space for shade and plants, but also a key spot to fight future floods.

The Montreal borough said that the spot in front of Paul-Jarry Elementary School will be a small space to compat climate change.

"We removed approximately 120 square metres of asphalt," said GRAME project manager Guillaume Lussier.

GRAME (Groupe de recommandations et d'actions pour un meilleur environnement) is an ogranization that launches projects to combat climate change in urban areas.

"We're gonna redo the whole thing with plants and rocks so its more natural," said volunteer Anthony Ormsby.

GRAME feels the new green space will soak up water from the playground nearby instead of it spilling into the streets and then sewers.

"In recent years, we've been getting in one hour the rain of a month, and our sewers are not able to withstand that," said Lachine borough mayor Maya Vodanovich.

Vodanovich is in charge of water for the City of Montreal and said they're working to replace the city's aging pipes, which were pushed to their limits this summer during intense storms that flooded Montreal.

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"In the meantime, we have to do this which is much more rapid," she said. "To keep as much water as we can on the ground, into the earth, and not to go into the sewers."