UPDATE:
Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has ordered a halt to the plan of pumping raw sewage directly into the St. Lawrence River for a week.
The decision was announced at this morning's executive committee meeting
"It's a question of being thorough, with the mayor asking for a halt to the work," said Pierre Desrochers, chairman of the city's executive committee, who made the announcement on behalf of Coderre who is in New York on business.
Coderre wants a moratorium on the plan to dump eight billion litres of untreated water in the river, due to maintenance on a pipe that collects both waste water and melted snow. The maintenance is linked to work on the Bonaventure expressway.
"There is a need for snow disposal sites but there is also a need to make sure this was the best plan, if there are other options, and see if everything was taken into consideration and well thought out," said Desrochers.
The work was set to begin October 18.