Montrealers urged to keep saving water, as aqueduct repairs expected to finish by early September

The City of Montreal says emergency repairs on a major aqueduct beneath Atwater Avenue remain on schedule and are expected to continue until early September by the latest, while urging more than one million residents to keep limiting their water consumption.

The repairs involve one of the city’s main water distribution pipes, which helps supply drinking water to 1.3 million people across 16 boroughs and several neighbouring municipalities.

Claude Pinard, president of Montreal’s executive committee, says work on two sections of the aqueduct has been completed, with work on a third section currently underway. Repair work on a fourth section will begin “in the coming days,” he says.

The work began after inspections earlier in the season found urgent repairs were needed to prevent the aging conduit from failing — aided by a reduction in Montrealers’ water consumption.

“Infrastructure throughout Quebec in municipalities is aging, and here we really needed the help of all Montrealers who responded well to the call,” Pinard told reporters.

Alan DeSousa, Montreal’s executive committee member responsible for infrastructure and mobility, says the work is progressing as planned and will be finished by the end of August or beginning of September. That timeline includes an additional two-week period to ensure water is circulating properly through the network before the project is considered complete.

“We still have several weeks to go, but we’re crossing our fingers that we’ll get through this situation, what was potentially a crisis, but which so far is under control,” DeSousa said.

A water-saving campaign was launched in May, with Montrealers asked to help cut the city’s daily water consumption by 100 million litres — about seven per cent of Montreal’s average day-to-day use. It was not a complete water ban.

At the time, DeSousa described the measure as “the largest water mobilization we’ve ever seen.”

On Tuesday, DeSousa said the city set a water-consumption target of less than 1.4 billion litres consumed per day. He says Montrealers are consuming “sufficiently below that threshold” at around 1.1 to 1.2 billion litres.

“Every summer, water consumption increases,” he said. “Our objective under normal circumstances would have been to anticipate an increase in water usage. Our goal was to ensure our systems could meet the water supply capacity of Montrealers. That’s why we set the threshold.”

But despite so far conforming with the consumption target, DeSousa said that a watering ban could still be a possibility should Montreal exceed it.

“All options are on the table,” he said.

DeSousa admits the city’s objective was helped by what’s been a rainy summer. But with the possibility of more heatwaves later this summer, he says it’s important for residents to continue conserving water to reduce pressure on the system.

“We’re not taking anything for granted,” he said. “We know there are still four, five, or six weeks ahead. And for this reason, we will proceed with caution.

“I’ve experienced summers where we have heatwaves in August. We remember 2002, when a pipe burst, followed by nine days of extreme heat. So I know we’re not out of the woods yet, but so far, things are going well.”

The Atwater aqueduct is one of four major pipes feeding one of Montreal’s largest drinking water reservoirs on McTavish Road, a stone’s throw away from McGill University.

To reduce demand, Montreal has suspended several water-intensive municipal operations, including continuous pipe flushing, preventive sewer cleaning and certain street washing activities. Decorative fountains and other non-essential uses have also been reduced or paused.

Residents are still being asked to follow the city’s drinking water regulations, limit lawn watering, avoid unnecessary outdoor water use and adopt other everyday water-saving habits while repairs continue.