Lévis refurbishes Rigolet Park, builds an engineered landfill

The City of Lévis plans to build a subsurface barrier, to excavate waste and to install vents in Rigolet Park in view of protecting neighbouring residents from the risk of explosion or asphyxiation. Rigolet Park is almost 5 ha in size and is located in a residential area of Saint-Romuald. This park used to include a small pond. From 1965 to 1970 the pond was filled with various materials including waste, because no controls or regulations applied at the time. The northwestern portion of the park was filled with materials, including construction and demolition rubbish. Anaerobic breakdown of the buried waste generates biogas which, according to municipal sampling results, is migrating outside the area in question and particularly through an old sewage line that presents a risk of explosion or asphyxiation to surrounding residents, as well as to a youth centre and a seniors’ residence. To remedy this problem, the City of Lévis has decided to install a subsurface barrier, excavate a portion of the waste (2,000 m3) and then fill in the excavated section, build a new sewage line to replace the old one and install vents to allow the biogas to escape safely. Soils from a small 40 m3 area contaminated with PAH and MAH will be discarded in a site authorized by the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP). Once the restoration work is finished, the city plans to develop Rigolet Park with the goal of attracting more visitors and revitalizing the district. Various projects include adding lighting so that the park can be used at night and planting vegetation along the shoreline to provide easier access to the river and to beautify the park. Other initiatives will be discussed in greater detail by the community and the Direction de la vie communautaire. These include the creation of a bike path, installation of a playground and the presentation of open-air shows. Other communities that have backfilled clandestine dumps will certainly be able to draw on Lévis’s initiative, particularly in terms of determining the effectiveness of a subsurface barrier in managing and controlling risk for local residents and site users. (Project description from original funding application)