Where Montreal's Snow Goes: Snow Depots, Sewer Chutes, and the Disposal Map

Every winter, Montreal removes approximately 300,000 truckloads of snow from its streets. That volume of snow has to go somewhere, and the answer involves a network of open-air depots, underground sewer chutes, and strict environmental rules. Here's how the city's snow disposal system works and where each of those truckloads ends up.

Two Systems: Depots and Sewer Chutes

Montreal processes its collected snow through two distinct systems: surface-level snow depots and underground sewer chutes.

Snow depots are large open-air sites, often located in former quarries or industrial lots, where dump trucks unload snow in massive piles. The snow sits in these depots and melts gradually through the spring and summer. Meltwater is collected and treated before being released.

Sewer chutes are stations where snow is fed into the municipal sewer system. The snow mixes with warm wastewater from residential and commercial buildings, which melts it. The resulting water flows through the sewer network to the wastewater treatment plant in Montreal East, where it is filtered and treated before being discharged into the St. Lawrence River (CBC News, What You Need to Know About Montreal's Snow-Clearing Operation).

Approximately 25 percent of the city's collected snow is processed through sewer chutes. The remaining 75 percent goes to surface depots.

Montreal's Major Snow Disposal Sites

The City of Montreal operates three principal snow disposal sites that are open to both municipal trucks and authorized private contractors. Each site requires the purchase of snow disposal coupons for access (Ville de Montreal, Snow Disposal Sites).

1. Carriere Saint-Michel (Francon Quarry)

Location: 3935 Boulevard Robert, Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension

Phone: 514-451-2678

The Francon quarry is Montreal's largest snow depot and one of the largest urban snow dumps in the world. This former limestone quarry receives roughly 40 percent of all snow collected across the city. The quarry's massive bowl shape provides enormous capacity, and the snow pile that accumulates here over the course of a single winter can take well into the summer to fully melt. In some years, remnants of the snow mountain have survived into September (CBC News, Montreal's Glacier: Where the Snow Survived Summer).

2. Angrignon Site

Location: 6700 Rue Saint-Patrick, LaSalle

Phone: 514-452-5452

The Angrignon site serves the southwestern boroughs of the island. It is located in the LaSalle industrial sector near the Lachine Canal.

3. Armand-Chaput Site

Location: Armand-Chaput Boulevard (south of Boulevard Maurice-Duplessis), Riviere-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles

Phone: 514-872-5408

This site serves the eastern end of the island and handles snow from Riviere-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montreal-Nord, and surrounding areas.

Operating Hours and Access

Snow disposal sites are open during active snow removal operations, often running 24 hours a day during major loading events. Outside of loading operations, most sites maintain limited weekday hours. Contractors and private users should call ahead to confirm whether a site is accepting loads on a given day.

Access requires snow disposal coupons, which must be purchased in advance. The city enforces strict rules about what can be dumped: snow is the only material accepted at these sites. Dumping anything else, including construction debris or household waste, can result in fines (Ville de Montreal, Snow Disposal Sites).

The Sewer Chute Network

In addition to the three main depots, the city operates approximately 15 sewer chutes distributed across the island. These stations are primarily used by municipal snow removal crews rather than private contractors.

At a sewer chute station, snow blowers or dump trucks feed snow directly into an opening that connects to the city's sewer infrastructure. The advantage of sewer chutes is speed: trucks don't need to drive long distances to a depot, which reduces fuel costs and keeps trucks in the loading zone longer. The disadvantage is limited capacity. Each chute can only process a certain volume per hour, and during heavy operations the chutes can become backed up.

Environmental Protections

Urban snow is not clean. It contains road salt, sand, motor oil, heavy metals from vehicle exhaust, and other contaminants picked up from road surfaces. Montreal's snow disposal system includes safeguards to prevent these pollutants from entering waterways untreated.

At surface depots, the ground beneath the snow piles is typically graded or lined so that meltwater is captured and directed to treatment infrastructure rather than seeping directly into the soil or flowing into nearby watercourses.

At sewer chutes, the melted snow enters the wastewater treatment system alongside regular sewage and is processed at the treatment plant before discharge. This ensures that contaminants in the snow are filtered out along with other urban wastewater pollutants.

The city publishes data on snow disposal through Canada's Open Government Portal, including the location of all disposal sites and transport transaction records. This data is updated each season and is freely available at open.canada.ca.

How to Find the Nearest Disposal Site

The City of Montreal publishes a dataset of all snow disposal site locations, including addresses and contact numbers, through its open data platform. You can also find the list on the official city website at montreal.ca/en/topics/snow-disposal-sites.

For a map view, the Open Government Portal offers downloadable geographic data that can be loaded into mapping tools. The city's snow removal operations map at services.montreal.ca/en/snowremoval/progress also provides context on which sectors are being cleared and where trucks are likely heading.

What This Means for Homeowners

The city handles snow from public streets, but snow cleared from your own property is your responsibility. Shovelling snow from your driveway onto the street isn't permitted, and pushing large volumes of snow onto your neighbour's property or into the street can result in a municipal fine.

For residential properties, the best approach is to design your landscaping with snow storage in mind. Patios, driveways, and walkways should include designated areas where snow can be piled without blocking drainage or damaging plantings. Proper grading ensures that meltwater flows away from your foundation rather than pooling against it.

If you need help designing outdoor spaces that account for Montreal's winter realities (snow storage, meltwater drainage, materials that handle freeze-thaw, and proper grading), call Montreal Paysagement Pro at 514-900-3867.

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Sources:

• Ville de Montreal, Snow Disposal Sites
• Open Government Portal, Snow Disposal Sites Dataset
• CBC News, What You Need to Know About Montreal's Snow-Clearing Operation
• CBC News, Montreal's Glacier: Where the Snow Survived Summer
• CBC News, How Montreal Takes 300,000 Truckloads of Snow Off the Street Every Winter
• Ville de Montreal, Snow Removal Progress Tracker