By Glenn Hicks

Drilling commences on new pipeline under North Saskatchewan River

Feb 28, 2018 | 11:00 AM

Natural movement in the North Saskatchewan River has forced SaskEnergy to drill a new 850-metre hole under the waterway west of Prince Albert.

Crews are working on installing a new natural gas pipeline to replace an older line laid almost fifty years ago.

“Riverbanks move, and the river bottom gets deeper with natural erosion,” SaskEnergy Spokesperson Casey McLeod told paNOW. “We found during our annual integrity checks the old line doesn’t meet our standards for depth of cover over the top of it, as the river has shifted.”

Heavy equipment was brought in for the job, and can be seen in operation on the north side of the river about seven kilometres west of the city near Buckland Road. Next week the rigs will move to the opposite side of the river. Mcleod said modern horizontal directional drilling technology makes the project a lot easier than it would have been in the past.

“The drill will go about 45 metres under the river bed and then the pipe will be pulled through that hole,” she said. “It’s a lot different to how they did things in the 1960s and ’70s when they did open-cut trenches to install pipe.”

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For that reason, Mcleod said the environmental impact will be minimal.

The project got underway at the beginning of February, and Mcleod said the drilling work will be done by the middle of March. The new pipeline is expected to be connected to the gas supply in early June. 

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow