April 6, 2010

ANDREW EMOND

A look inside the Denis Creek storm drain, Dorval, Quebec. Andrew Emond’s hobby is exploring the underground tunnels and mapping them on his Web site www.undermontreal.com

FEATURE | Sewer and Watermain

Hobbyist goes boldly into Montreal’s underworld

Exploring sewers under the city dating back to Confederation

PETER KENTER

correspondent

Andrew Emond reckons that the city doesn’t have a problem with his web site, Under Montreal, in which he trains a spotlight on the sewers and storm drains running beneath la métropole.

“I’ve been exploring and photographing the sewer and wastewater system for more than three years, and I’ve made the front page of the Montreal Gazette and haven’t received any threatening e-mails,” says Emond, a graphic artist by day and infrastructure archivist in his free time. “In fact, I’ve received positive responses from a wide range of people, including historians, engineers, architects, community planners, the media, artists and even local politicians.”

Emond has been interested in industrial infrastructure for the past six years, inspired by the hydroelectric projects of Niagara Falls. “I became fascinated with the intake tunnels and abandoned tailraces,” he says. “When I moved to Montreal I felt that exploring the sewer system would be a good way to extend that experience.”

Emond restricted himself to the Island of Montreal, but soon discovered that maps of the city’s infrastructure weren’t easy to find. Another Montrealer had made forays into the system and offered to share notes.

A map of the system from the 1960s.

“I had her as a resource, but she hadn’t explored very much of the system,” he says. “I looked at old maps in the library and tried to get a sense of what had been built, including the locations of creeks and rivers that used to flow along the surface and had been converted into the sewer system. The closest thing I found to a guide was a monochromatic map from the 1960s showing lines across the island, but doesn’t offer any streets or labels.”

Sewer construction received more public attention during the 1950s, when newspaper reports provided some degree of detail.

“The media was eager to cover these projects,” says Emond. “Interest in sewer construction was almost on par with interest in construction of the new Metro. It captured the public’s imagination.”

Emond enters the system through manholes in dead ends, or undeveloped areas. He wears chest waders and carries a camera, a gas monitor and an arsenal of portable lights. A typical exploration takes four hours, in which Emond covers about five kilometres, usually returning to the same manhole.

He notes the sewer system isn’t the malodourous, vermin-infested world depicted by Hollywood. He runs across an occasional rat; a few raccoons and muskrats might be found in outlying outfall tunnels.

“For the most part it isn’t toilet waste, which makes up a small part of the stream,” he says. “It’s mostly water from showers, baths and dishwashers, which gives off a kind of soapy, organic smell, which isn’t unpleasant.”

The Montreal sewer system dates back to before Confederation, expanding in stages through the ensuing decades. Emond has explored brick-lined sewer tunnels dating back to the 1830s, then waves of further construction dating to the 1860s and 1880s. He says he most enjoys exploring these older tunnels.

ANDREW EMOND

“The brick-lined tunnels were used up until the early 1900s, when they discovered it was easier and cheaper to work with concrete,” he says. “For the most part, the brick construction appears to be in good condition for something built more than a century ago. The older tunnels have formed a character of their own, developing an organic patina. We take special care to preserve calcium stalagmites and stalactites that have taken decades to develop, even if nobody else ever sees them.”

One of the elements curiously absent from the sewer system is evidence that humans built the system. “I occasionally come across pieces of tools and shovels that couldn’t have washed down there on their own,” he says. “I’ve also seen the occasional signature of construction workers, with the oldest dating back to 1955.”

To date, Emond has covered about 30 per cent of the city’s sewers. “I don’t want to stop exploring until I get the sense that I’ve seen all of the important elements of the system.”

Print | Email | Comment