The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

in southwestern

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the cities of Laval and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Geography

Flowing west to east, the Rivière des Prairies bisects the Hochelaga Archipelago and originates in the Lake of Two Mountains. It flows on either side of

Île Bizard Île Bizard () is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region. It is one of the three populated islands within the city of Montreal, along with the Island of Montreal and Nuns' Island (Île des Soeurs). The islan ...

(part of Montreal), then divides the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (, ) is an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelag ...

(

) to the south from Île Jésus ( Laval) to the north, after which it flows into the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

at the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal. The river contains a large number of islands, including Île Bizard, the Îles Laval ( Île Bigras, Île Pariseau, Île Verte and Île Ronde) belonging to Laval, and

Île de la Visitation Ile or ILE may refer to: Ile * Ile, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino ac ...

, a nature

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

belonging to Montreal. There are also islands named Île Mercier, Île Ménard, Île Jasmin, Île Barwick, Île de Roxboro, Île aux Chats, Île Paton, Île Perry, Île Lapierre, Île Boutin, Île Rochon and Île Gagné, among many others. The Rivière des Prairies has many

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

. Rapids are shown in several places on the 1879 map of Henry Whitmersome Hopkins, and on Gordon and Gotch's map of the Island of Montreal from 1924. Named rapids of the river, starting from the west, are the "Rapides de Cap-Saint-Jacques", the Lalemant(Dutchman) Rapids that are located between Île Bizard and Laval ( with a ferry), the " Rapides du Cheval Blanc"(Whitehorse rapids) that are located in between the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Sainte-Dorothée, the Laval rapids, the " Sault-au-Récollet Rapids" that are located north of Bordeaux Prison, and ending with the "Rapides de la Rivière des Prairies". The riverfront in the West Island area was famous for its beaches along the river. Some were named "Crystal", "Noel/Roy", "Riviera", and Roxboro municipal beach

Environmental issues

The river receives massive discharges of untreated liquid waste from metropolitan Montreal and the newly developed suburbs by way of over 150 discharge outlets. Whenever there is significant rainfall on the island of Montreal, household sewage is mixed with the city street rainwater and discharged untreated into the river. This sewage turns the river into essentially an open sewer. The sewage problem was reported in the year 1911., and a need to purify Montreal sewage in 1935. The Montreal Board of Trade (BOT) commissioned a report on the

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...

in the late 1950s, and the report was given to Premier Barrette. Montreal has six drinking-water plants on the Island whose source of water is the Rivière des Prairies and Lac Saint Louis. Reportedly, Montreal and Quebec city drinking water is tested. It is claimed modern sewage treatment techniques have reversed much of the damage from the sewage. Some people consider the river clean again, starting in the year 1998, when most of the sewage was treated before being discharged. However, parts of the river are never suitable for swimming . Specifically the location of R.D.P. 140, the Rive-Boisée area has been polluted since the year 1971 is still polluted from raw sewage more than forty years later . The Rive-Boisée problem had been noticed and was reported to be repaired in 2014. The reason for the sewage problem is that the storm sewer drain system and the sanitary sewer system were mistakenly connected in many places, and it takes money to correct and repair.Title "Beaconsfield wins cross-connected pipes court case brought forward by homeowner" Montreal Gazette, March 5, 2014
/ref> Reports from the R.S.M.A.(Réseau de suivi du milieu aquatique) dated 2021 on the water quality of RDP-140 indicate the problem has not been fixed. From Bing maps, many of the sewage output locations can be seen on the river shoreline. The solution to the visible pollution (plastic bags, toilet paper, condoms) that accumulates on the shoreline is to use a type of a screen at all the

storm drain A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, U.S. and Canada), highway drain, surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain (Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from i ...

s and outlets that expel the rainwater-garbage mixture into the river.

References

External links

* RSMA
Le Réseau de suivi du milieu aquatique. The river water tested weekly

Geography

Environmental issues

See also

References

External links

Further reading