REGINA – Shifting ground in some communities along Last Mountain Lake continues to take a toll on house foundations and underground pipelines.
“This was suppose to be our retirement home,” said Valerie Reichert, a homeowner at Regina Beach. “Our retaining wall is beginning to break apart. I’ve had cracks in the house. The overhanging roof is starting to pull away from the house.”
“We can’t sell our homes. How can we sell? They’re worth nothing.”
The shifting has proved too much for some natural gas lines to withstand. SaskEnergy had to install above ground gas lines to 12 homes at Regina Beach, a community rocked by a major gas explosion in December.
READ MORE: Gas leak behind Regina Beach house explosion
The above ground lines are only a temporary solution and SaskEnergy said if the ground doesn’t stop shifting, it might have to end service completely to some homes.
“It’s a temporary solution (the above ground lines). It wouldn’t last through the winter, so this is really only a solution until probably at most mid-summer,” said Dave Burdeniuk with SaskEnergy. “If we can’t serve these people through next winter, we do want to give them enough notice that they will have to transition to another type of fuel heading into next winter.”
Burdeniuk said talks are underway to determine who would foot the bill for a potential transition to either propone, oil or electricity.
In the meantime, the resort community continues to battle some visible obstacles.
“Some of the roads are in real bad shape with water running down them because people have to pump their basements… so they don’t flood,” said Cameron Hart, mayor of Regina Beach.
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