WHEREAS it is becoming more apparent that buried underground pipelines are not properly plotted or mapped in terms of their locations crossing road allowances and agricultural properties;

WHEREAS it is becoming more common for buried underground pipelines to accidentally be disrupted due to the lack of information recorded with respect to their locations;

WHEREAS many of the early fibreglass and steel pipelines had no tracer wire connected to the pipeline to ensure accuracy in locating the exact position of the buried pipeline;

WHEREAS depending on the type of underground line that is struck it can be potentially life-threatening or environmentally hazardous;

WHEREAS plotting, mapping and registering the pipeline should be the responsibility of the company obtaining the easement to bury a pipeline on private or public property;

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the provincial government to ensure that appropriate legislation is in place requiring all utility/industrial companies that are installing underground pipelines to be required to properly record the locations of their lines, which would include a mapped plan as well as having a tracer wire installed to ensure line locating accuracy;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that SARM lobby the provincial government to also make it mandatory that all underground pipelines that are constructed in Saskatchewan be required to be registered with Sask 1^st Call to ensure municipalities and road construction companies are aware of facilities crossing municipal road allowances as well as earth works conducted on private properties;

BE IT FURTHER RESOVLED that the provincial government establish appropriate penalties to be charged to companies which do not register their underground lines with Sask 1^st Call.

View response from the Ministry of Energy and Resources