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The St. Lawrence in good hands
Concerns about the St. Lawrence River have been around for quite some time. Since the early 1970s, the water quality of the St. Lawrence has been a central issue. Researchers are finding increasing evidence of the limitations imposed by bacterial and toxic pollution on the recovery of uses and on the overall management of river uses for economic, social and environmental purposes.
In 1972, the Canada-Quebec St. Lawrence Working Group was mandated to assess the situation. The working group found that recreational as well as wildlife and commercial uses were limited by water pollution. Even at that time, a joint effort appeared necessary to solve the problems identified. In 1978, a second committee, the federal-provincial St. Lawrence River Study Committee, was formed. It recommended the development of response plans for guaranteeing quality drinking water, cleaning up municipal wastewater and properly regulating industrial waste.
Several response programs were therefore developed by the governments of Quebec and Canada in the 1970s, including the Programme d’assainissement des eaux du Québec(PAEQ), the Programme d’assainissement des eaux usées municipales(PADEM), the Programme de réduction des rejets industriels(PRRI) and the St. Lawrence Action Plan, a Canada-Quebec initiative that was launched in 1988.
Today, we must agree, cleaning up the St. Lawrence River is no longer the responsibility of government alone. The daunting task of restoring the river’s health and recovering its uses also rests in the hands of riverside communities, community organizations, young people and stakeholders from all sectors of Quebec society.
This section of the site offers a historical overview of government responses since the 1970s and follows the development of these responses during the implementation of the four successive phases of the St. Lawrence Action Plan. It also provides a sense of the equally important contribution of industries, riverside communities, community organizations and young people to achieving the objectives of protecting, conserving and promoting the St. Lawrence.
Date modified: 2008/05/20 – Important Notices
