Grit removal tanks of Montreal's wastewater treatment plant.

Montreal’s wastewater treatment plant can be found at the far east end of the island in Pointe Aux Trembles. It’s the largest in North America and ranks the third largest in the world- capable of handling 32 cubic metres of water a second.  Raw sewage (usually) ends up here via a network of deep-level tunnels referred to as interceptors. These interceptors form a ring around the island, collecting and distributing wastewater to the plant before it has a chance to enter the surrounding rivers. To get a better sense of how the interceptors work, you can have a look at the entry I wrote  here.

Montreal's wastewater treatment plant as seen from Microsoft Live Maps.

While it’s an impressive system in terms of its scope and capacity, the treatment process itself leaves much to be desired. In fact, it’s actually one of the worst in Canada. A national “report card” issued by the Sierra Club in 2004 gave the city’s treatment process a grade of F-. The only other city to receive a grade worse than Montreal was Victoria, a place which doesn’t even have a treatment process in place yet.

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OK, so I’m back home now— and officially married. She said “yes” (*phew!*) and was then nice enough to humour me during some of my underground related antics during the week-long honeymoon in Istanbul. For eg: having to tag along with me as I entered just about every lighting store we came across to find a 24″ portable  flourescent unit. I look forward to being able to use it to light my shots, but I know it’s going to be a real pain to have to bring around with me. I might have to get Teri back underground to help me carry it.

One of Istanbul's many treasures.

And of course, with a week to spend wandering the streets of Istanbul, I inevitably began to wonder about its sewer system- especially in and around the older parts of the city. The manhole covers would often have ventilation holes large enough to be able look down through the shaft without having to crouch down. I was never able to see anything that looked larger than a couple of feet in diameter, though. (Side note: some of the covers have “kanalizasyon” stamped on them- the turkish word for sewer, obviously derived from the french term “canalisation”) I rarely heard, saw or smelled any significant amount of wastewater flowing through anything.  I’m sure there are good things to be found. I’m just too used to Montreal. I guess my sewersense needs to become more refined for it to work in Europe.

A typical Istanbul manhole cover. Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/smallscreen

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