SaskEnergy is considering moving a number of natural gas lines in the Nutana neighbourhood from the backyard to the front yard after a chunk of Saskatoon's riverbank collapsed last month.

The change would affect 10 properties on 11th Street East, said Casey MacLeod, a senior communications officer with the utility company.

"The backyard for many residents on the 11th Street is where the majority of the ground movement happened," she said.

MacLeod said SaskEnergy is still waiting for a report from an independent geotechnical consulting firm before a decision will be made.

"We have to make sure the ground is finished moving in the area and that it's safe to install permanent service," she said, adding that any solution would likely involve ground excavation.

The cost to move the gas lines, in terms of SaskEnergy's infrastructural components, would be paid for by the utility company, said MacLeod.

"Anything from our infrastructure - so running new mains or new service lines to the front of the house for example - would be our costs."

In the meantime, approximately 50 residents in the area are still without permanent natural gas service.

MacLeod said two mobile natural gas trailers have been installed on Saskatchewan Crescent East and on 11th Street East. The cascade trailers are hooked to above ground natural gas lines and can be refilled as needed, she said.

Natural gas service for roughly 500 residents in the area was initially shut off late June after a slope in the backyard of a home in 200 block of 11th Street East caved in, opening up the ground and sinking a large patio while tilting a power pole in the back alley.

The cause of collapse was natural, said Saskatoon's general manager of infrastructure services last month.

"All of the slopes on the South Saskatchewan River are unstable," Mike Gutek told reporters.

The cause of the slump "is what it's always been for a thousand years."

fsuen@rawlco.com

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