Alberta Pipefinders Inc. presents: the history of damage prevention in Alberta

History of underground damage control and prevention in Alberta:

In 1988, there were over 149,000 km of petroleum pipelines in Alberta. In 2000, there were almost 294,000 km of petroleum pipelines. In only 12 years, the number of pipelines almost doubled. As more and more people use natural gas to heat their homes, power their factories, and produce their electricity, the Alberta oilpatch and municipal sectors are sure to continue to flourish. In order to service this unprecedented growth in underground utilities, specialized technicians are needed to locate and mark these buried structures before any ground disturbance is carried out.

In 1980, excavation activities caused almost 9000 "hits" and cost various industries and citizens over $4,000,000 in repairs and lost production. More important are the lives that have been lost due to preventable incidents involving underground structures and ground disturbance.

From ATCO's website: "The biggest myth about underground gas lines is that they are located deep under the surface. This is not necessarily true. Gas lines are initially installed about 1m deep, but as structures are built and top soil is moved, lines can be much closer to the surface." This makes it impossible to predict where a gas line is in relation to the surface without precision locating and hand-exposing.

ATCO responds to over 400 "hits" per year, the majority of these from homeowners. In every case, damage to the underground structure could have been prevented by accurate locating and marking, coupled with proper education in ground disturbance.

After the Mill Woods Pipeline Disaster of March 1979 in which over 18,000 people were evacuated from their homes, a need was recognized to implement a province-wide one-call system where contractors and homeowners could request a locate of all underground facilities in the area in which ground disturbance was to occur. The result was the Alberta one-call system, a free service for locating buried facilities. Their goal is to have all operators of underground facilities in Alberta as members.

The use of the Alberta one-call system is free. Their number is Toll free: 1-800-242-3447 or you can make a request online at their website. After a request is made, a qualified technician will mark your underground facilities within a few days. In most cases, the party responsible for damage incurred on an underground facility is required to pay all expenses related to the resumption of service, and these costs could amount in the thousands of dollars. For this reason it is strongly urged that you call before you dig.