Montreal begins sewage dump into St. Lawrence

Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, began dumping untreated sewage into the St. Lawrence River on Wednesday, angering environmentalists with a repair operation that could release as much as 8 billion liters of wastewater into a major waterway.

The city has said the dump, expected to last up to a week, is necessary while work is carried out to replace aging parts of the waste treatment system that could create a greater environmental hazard if it unexpectedly broke.

The action prompted outrage from cities and citizens downstream - worried about raw sewage in the water and the possibility of detritus such as condoms washing up on riverbanks. Even some upstream were concerned because of the precedent it was setting.