In April 2012, there was an abandoned quarry and a meadow at the corner of Rockhurst and Highway 105.
This is the Google Earth view of the affected area. Taken on 10/15/09, it shows the abandoned quarry on that date, with meadows and woodlands bordering it.
And now this:
This overlay shows the extent of the excavation that has taken place since early May 2012.
More aerial photos below.
More aerial photos below.
On May 3, 2012, Couillard Construction began excavating sand from the site, and today it looks like this:
The Wakefield Spring, which is used by 5000 people in the region, is being compromised by the illegal extraction of sand for the construction of Highway 5.
A 13-acre property in Wakefield at Rockhurst and 105 which is in a residential area but municipally zoned as commercial is being excavated by Couillard Construction, the primary contractor working for MTQ.
Starting in early May, the extraction of sand and gravel has continued without interruption, in contravention of a Notice of Non-conformity which was issued by Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP) on May 10 and 11, 2012 and then again on June 7, 2012.
Article 15 of the Règlement sur les carrières et sablières requires prior certification of any extraction done within 1 km of a municipal water source. This pit is 900 metres away from the Spring.
A report produced by Natural Resources Canada in 2010 identified the sand and gravel on the east side of Highway 105 near Chemin Rockhurst to be the source of the spring and the filtration medium of the spring water.
A Transport Canada Environmental Assessment Report in 2010 reported that this quarry is the source of the Spring:
“…the water feeding this spring appears to come from the hills in the upper watershed area, to the east and south of the spring, and from the sand and gravel pit located on either side of Route 105, near Rockhurst Road (a former quarry is also present). This water was filtered by and flowed through the clay layer into the fine sand unit (or sandy till) and resurfaced at the spring.” This hypothesis, based on information from drilling logs in the Qualitas Outaouais report of February 2008, was confirmed by additional drilling on October 26, 2010.
The Municipality of La Pêche passed a resolution on June 18, 2012 to create a source water protection plan/strategy with regard to the Wakefield Spring. In preparation of such a plan, a hydrogeologist would be hired to study the area and determine the cumulative effects of human activity in the area and their potential impacts on the quality and quantity of the spring water.
The contractor is operating the pit in contravention of other regulations. There is no weigh scale at the pit; trucks are leaving without protective tarps. There are no barriers or other safety measures in place at the site, so there is a public safety issue as well.
Couillard Construction is not obliged to use this pit. There are many other legal sources of sand in the LaPeche region. The cost of stopping excavation at this site until hydrogeological studies can be conducted to guarantee Spring safety would be minimal in comparison to the permanent loss of this vital resource.
A 13-acre property in Wakefield at Rockhurst and 105 which is in a residential area but municipally zoned as commercial is being excavated by Couillard Construction, the primary contractor working for MTQ.
Starting in early May, the extraction of sand and gravel has continued without interruption, in contravention of a Notice of Non-conformity which was issued by Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP) on May 10 and 11, 2012 and then again on June 7, 2012.
Article 15 of the Règlement sur les carrières et sablières requires prior certification of any extraction done within 1 km of a municipal water source. This pit is 900 metres away from the Spring.
A report produced by Natural Resources Canada in 2010 identified the sand and gravel on the east side of Highway 105 near Chemin Rockhurst to be the source of the spring and the filtration medium of the spring water.
A Transport Canada Environmental Assessment Report in 2010 reported that this quarry is the source of the Spring:
“…the water feeding this spring appears to come from the hills in the upper watershed area, to the east and south of the spring, and from the sand and gravel pit located on either side of Route 105, near Rockhurst Road (a former quarry is also present). This water was filtered by and flowed through the clay layer into the fine sand unit (or sandy till) and resurfaced at the spring.” This hypothesis, based on information from drilling logs in the Qualitas Outaouais report of February 2008, was confirmed by additional drilling on October 26, 2010.
The Municipality of La Pêche passed a resolution on June 18, 2012 to create a source water protection plan/strategy with regard to the Wakefield Spring. In preparation of such a plan, a hydrogeologist would be hired to study the area and determine the cumulative effects of human activity in the area and their potential impacts on the quality and quantity of the spring water.
The contractor is operating the pit in contravention of other regulations. There is no weigh scale at the pit; trucks are leaving without protective tarps. There are no barriers or other safety measures in place at the site, so there is a public safety issue as well.
Couillard Construction is not obliged to use this pit. There are many other legal sources of sand in the LaPeche region. The cost of stopping excavation at this site until hydrogeological studies can be conducted to guarantee Spring safety would be minimal in comparison to the permanent loss of this vital resource.
Photographs from the National Air Photo Library
This is the site on December 8, 1953. There appears to be active
This is the site on May 12, 1975. The pit in question (on the east side of Highway 105, which is the road intersecting the picture) is smaller than the 1953 photo.
This is the site on May 3, 1980. Only remnants of the old pit are visible. It seems dormant and covered in vegetation.
