In support of April as National Safe Digging Month, the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities joins the Iowa Utilities Board, Common Ground Iowa, and Iowa One Call, in reminding Iowa communities to be safe, help protect underground utility lines, and always call 811 before any digging projects.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has also signed a proclamation inn support of safe digging practices in Iowa and proclaiming April as National Safe Digging Month.

Calling 811 is toll-free. Locating lines can save lives, prevent accidents to underground utility infrastructure, and avoid injuries, costly repairs, and fines.

Iowa law, Iowa Code chapter 480, Underground Facilities Information, requires that a resident or professional excavator contact Iowa One Call at 811 or 1-800-292-8989 at least two days before digging begins to mark the location of all utility lines. Iowa’s One Call center is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The following will occur once Iowa One Call is contacted:

• Operators with underground utility facilities in the area where the excavation is planned are notified. This includes natural gas and electric power utilities, communications companies, water lines, and cities and towns.
•  Within 48 hours after being contacted, utilities either mark their underground facilities with color-coded paint marks or flags, or tell the excavator they have no lines in the area.

If a contractor is performing the excavation work, a person should make sure the contractor calls Iowa One Call two days before excavating starts.

April marks the start of spring digging season, so Common Ground Iowa and Iowa One Call are encouraging Iowa residents to call 811 before digging to prevent injuries, property damage and inconvenient outages.   

This month is dedicated to increasing awareness of safe digging practices across Iowa and reminding homeowners to call 811 before starting any outdoor digging projects. One underground utility line, electric, gas, communications, water or sewer, is damaged by digging every six minutes nationwide because someone did not call 811, according to the Common Ground Alliance. 

On April 18, 2016, many people will be planting trees for Earth Day and Arbor Day projects, so it is important to remind your customers to call 811 to have underground utility lines marked before digging begins.

Call Iowa One Call at 811 at least 48 hours prior to a scheduled project to allow a professional locator to visit the property and mark the approximate location of the underground utility lines.  Remember to dig around the marks, not on them, and also remember that time, erosion or root structure growth can shift the locations of utility lines.

Striking a utility line while digging can lead to injury, penalties, repair costs, and inconvenient outages, so consider this is a friendly reminder to call 811 before you dig in April and every other month of the year.