In a decision-making summary made public in recent weeks, the agglomeration of Quebec signals its intention to grant itself new powers regarding the protection of Lake Saint-Charles. She gives herself the right to force her neighbors to act to return the banks of the body of water to nature.
A by-law was already adopted for these purposes in 2008, but it did not allow the City to intervene with owners who refused to comply.
Quebec also indicates that it has observed “several destroyed riparian strips” which contravene its regulations in recent months.
The spokesperson for the City of Quebec, however, states that the tightening of the rules “was adopted as a precaution, in case there were eventually recalcitrant owners.”
In recent years, about ten notices of violation have been issued to residents who have partially or completely destroyed the natural protection of the lake’s banks. Only one owner has yet to act to restore his waterfront.
Lake Saint-Charles supplies drinking water to approximately 300,000 inhabitants of the Quebec region. It is the capital’s main source of fresh water.
The development of riparian strips along the edge of the lake helps to slow down its eutrophication, or its deterioration, by acting as a natural filter retaining the sediments which contribute to the impoverishment of the body of water.
Lake Saint-Charles is the main source of drinking water for Quebec City. (Archives The Sun)
At the turn of 2010, owners of shoreline land on Lake Saint-Charles turned to the courts to challenge a municipal by-law forcing them to renaturalize the shores of the lake at their own expense to protect it.
They were ultimately rejected in the Court of Appeal, where the right of municipalities to impose such developments was confirmed.
