August 11th Reminds Us to Call 811 Before Digging

(Radio Iowa) Today’s (Friday) date is August 11th or 8-11, the day Iowans are reminded about the three-digit phone number they’re required by law to call before doing any digging on their property. Ben Booth is a spokesman for Iowa One Call which is marking what it calls 8-1-1 Day in advance of the fall planting season.

“Before you dig, at least 48 hours in advance of that digging, dial 811,” Booth says. “You’ll be connected to the Iowa One Call Center where you make your submission for a locate notice, so you can have your underground utilities marked and color-coded for you, so you can be safe and you know where -not- to dig.” The state law was enacted in 1993, mandating that Iowans use the service before taking a shovel to dirt, and especially before using anything larger to dig.

“New homeowners, people that are just buying property for the first time, we have people out there that aren’t really aware that they have to do that,” Booth says. “A lot of times people think, ‘Well, this is my yard and if I want to dig, I’m going to dig in my yard,’ not knowing that it’s actually a requirement.” Each time an Iowan phones into the call center, it typically triggers several more calls, depending on how many utilities may be buried on the property.

“We field a lot of incoming calls, somewhere around 600,000 incoming notices, which equates to more than 3.6 million notices back to the utilities.” Learn more about digging on your property at Iowa One Call-dot-com.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)