How to Locate Utility Lines Before Digging

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Winter is a good time to plan for spring and summer gardening. If those plans include digging for a shrub, tree or new garden site, remember that your yard is more than just dirt and grass. Underneath is a mass of utility wires and pipes. While it looks prettier for these lines to be underground, a careless scoop from a shovel can cause serious problems. Here are a few things to do.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Phone
Computer with Internet service

How to Locate Utility Lines Before Digging

Step1

Check with your utility companies. Some laws require that you contact local utility companies before digging a hole of any size on your property. Call 811, a free national "call before you dig" service. You can also go to the Common Ground Alliance website.

Step2

Know where you are planning to dig before you call. Your phone call will be routed to a local one call center. The operator will ask about your digging plans and contact your local utility companies.

Step3

Wait before you dig. Within a few days, your utility companies will send a professional locator to your property to mark your lines. Once your underground lines have been marked, you will know the approximate location of your utility.

Step4

Know the general guidelines for depth of utility lines. They can range from 18-36 inches for electric, 24 to 36 inches for gas and sewage and 36 inches for water. However, if it’s not subject to freezing, water and be any depth and cable television can be any depth, too.

Step5

Planning to install low-voltage lighting or irrigation systems? A 5-inch depth is generally deep enough to keep them out of the way of aerators and edging tools. Draw a diagram of these systems and keep them for future reference, because this is not the responsibility of the utility companies to know the location of these lines.

Tips & Warnings

Don’t trust the general guidelines for line depth and avoid making the call, as grade changes completed after lines were laid may alter depth.
If you dig a hole without calling the line-locating number, you could be fined and charged for repairs.

Who Can Help:

Resources

Common Ground Alliance

Comments

paulakparker said

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on 5/14/2008 You're right. I have mentioned the need to do this in another eHow article.

call811B4Udig said

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on 5/9/2008 Don’t forget to call before you dig! Even for simple projects, like planting shrubs or putting up a mailbox, it’s important to call 811 (http://www.call811.com). There could be utility lines where you break ground - sometimes multiple lines are in a common area and their depths vary, so you might not know about all of them.

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