Public Works deals with region's heaviest snowfall in 20 years

As of this week, said Lahaie, who is responsible for the City's snow removal operations, as much as 270 centimetres had fallen. "It's a lot of snow for the Montreal region," he said, adding that last year there were only 135 centimetres.

"The difference is huge."

According to Lahaie, many cities in the Montreal region base the annual snow removal agreements they sign with private contractors on an average snowfall of 180 to 200 centimetres. In addition, the back-to-back nature of the snowstorms that whipped through Montreal this season made cleanup operations all the more intensive.

Westmount, like many other Montreal-area municipalities, ran into difficulties finding places and ways to dispose of all that snow.

"Last year we didn't have any dump problem," Lahaie said. "This year we had certain problems getting time at the dump. So we had to find another place."

The Public Works Department ended up sending snow to a special dump set up in the former Turcot Yards just west of St. Henri, after gaining permission of the provincial government, which owns the site. Lahaie said that for every 10 trucks that take snow to a dumping site Westmount has used for years, 20 others used the Turcot dump.

Special snow sewer

The City also makes use of a large sewer drain designed especially to accept snow during the winter. Although not a snow melter, it liquefies snow, which gradually melts while making its way through the sewer system. Westmount is known as an especially challenging place for snow removal because of the mountain and the many streets that are built on hills.

"It's a challenge, but the blue collar crews here are very experienced with hills, so everything goes well," Lahaie said. "I think the citizens are happy with the service we have been giving. But the hills are not a major challenge for the crews themselves.

"When you have major storm, the first thing you do is you push the snow aside on the road, you put a little bit of salt because of the traffic coming up and down the hills, and after that, the following day, once you took the snow out of the road, you start picking up the snow. It's never done the same day."

Lahaie couldn't give a precise estimate of how much more Westmount has spent this season to remove all the snow, although he said, "the thing is, every day I'm adding."

He said a significant amount of the snow removal budget was spent in November and December, and another major amount was spent in the first two months of the new year.

"I know I'm over budget right now — but I can't do otherwise," he said.