:Non-existent security at Pont-Viau water-filtration plant

This was a repeat performance of another Courrier Laval journalist who penetrated similar facilities in August of 2005, in the same manner crossing the same sectors without ever being seen, confronted or questioned.

And what's more, the plants at Sainte-Rose and Chomedey didn't at the time offer any more resistance than we encountered this time around.

But this time at least, the journalist and photographer could only access the Pont-Viau installation, where computers, control posts and water tanks were at the mercy of anyone coming onto the site.

"Tests, monitoring, and discussions revealed that the Pont-Viau station's doors were unlocked, that there was a hole in the fence surrounding the plant and that the grill allowing for entry into the fenced area could be activated by the weight of a vehicle," Mrs. Lachambre reported.

More than a week later, on August 30, the Courrier Laval team confirmed the same deficiencies in security. And worse: the main gate providing access to the fenced area was wide open. The electric control in front of the gate was out of order, as was a second mechanism installed at a secondary entry – closed this time – in the plant's southern sector.

During the 45-minute visit outside and inside the plant, the main gate remained open. The photographer's car even spent more than ten minutes parked across the gate, with no one giving notice or expressing concern.

A general inspection of the exterior of the station revealed the opening in the fence at the rear of the plant. At another spot, the metal mesh in the fence was detached from the posts at the bottom, leaving a space big enough for an adult to slip through.

In the Administration office, superintendent Denis Allard explained that the same camera surveillance system is in operation at all three plants in Laval. It's not just anybody who can gain access to these buildings, he summed up.

In Sainte-Rose, twenty minutes later, the impromptu visitors came to another locked door. The electronic button was out of order, and a telephone number had to be dialed to ask for entry, read the written notice.

Outside, an employee was busy checking doors, locks and security gates, a measure which perhaps betrays the fact that the visit of the regional newspaper team had been anticipated… "Were you waiting for us?" the question was posed, to which came the reply, "It's a routine inspection." A necessary precaution before the long weekend, the man added, accompanying the visitors to the office of supervisor Claude Durivage, who's a little unsettled by the presence of the press. His plant, nonetheless, was the only one scoring a perfect mark for security.

The auditor-general's report was tabled August 22. "The administrators were aware," says Mrs. Lachambre. But on the visit of Courrier Laval to the Chomedey plant, superintendent Denis Allard nevertheless admitted that he was not aware of the content of the report.

When a journalist and photographer managed to penetrate security at the Pont-Viau plant, the news spread like wildfire at city hall. "At the Pont-Viau station major work is underway. There's a constant stream of comings and goings," stated Ville de laval spokesperson Marc Laforge, by way of explanation, prior to acknowledging the importance of safeguarding the security of the site, inside and out. Regulations will be reinforced, he assured. (N.V.)