Call Before You Dig: It’s Free, It’s Easy, and It’s the Law

Colorado 8-1-1 must be notified prior to excavation. Excavation is defined as: “any operation in which earth is moved or removed by means of any tools, equipment, or explosives and includes auguring, boring, ditching, grading, plowing-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, and tunneling.”

The safest and only legal way to dig is to know what is below the ground before your shovel or equipment moves any dirt. Even small projects like planting a shrub require you to make advance arrangements before digging. Your advance call to 8-1-1 helps you learn where utility-owned lines and equipment are buried before you dig.

Your call to 8-1-1 connects you with your Colorado’s “one-call center,” which arranges, at no cost to you, for utilities to locate and mark the buried utilities in your dig area.

In Colorado, call three days in advance of digging.  Locates for your water utility are from the main water line to the meter pit.  You are responsible for locating your service line past the meter pit to your home, outbuildings, or yard hydrants, etc.

Visit the Colorado 8-1-1 at www.co811.org.