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SaskEnergy crews fix gas leak near home

Jan 13, 2014 | 7:16 PM

SaskEnergy spent most of the day Monday working to fix an underground gas leak near a residence.

“They [crews] verified that there was a leak and we’ve got one of our construction crews on site making the repairs,” said Dave Burdeniuk, director of communications for SaskEnergy earlier Monday evening.

SaskEnergy responded to a call about the leak in the 600 block of 21st Street West , after a homeowner reported smelling an odour after 9:30 a.m.

“That’s exactly what we tell people to do, whether it’s outside your home or inside your home, is if you do smell something that you think could be like rotten eggs or it could be something off, that you’re not used to smelling, do give us a call,” he said.

He said it looks like it was caused by the heavy frost. Gas leaks of this kind are not that common in the Prince Albert area because of the type of soil found here, which is sandier and more stable than the kind that is found in southern Saskatchewan.

Burdeniuk said that in Prince Albert, there may be less than half a dozen of these incidents over the winter period.

“The cold has been so intense, and it looks like it might have been just a matter of a small bit of ground shifting. This is a leak that happened on a valve that basically is right where the driveway for this property connects with the street. So it’s a matter of actually having to dig up a little bit of the driveway and break through part of the street.”

He said that no gas moved outside of the pipe, and no gas was moving underground where it wasn’t supposed to be.

“We’ve got that gas shut off and are working on making those repairs,” he said.

Gas service has since been returned to the affected residence.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames