Cooperative Living August 2021 - 18

SafetySense | Story and photo courtesy Brandpoint Content
19.5 million
Americans plan
to dig this year
Call Before You Dig
The missed home improvement step
putting you and your community at risk
as part of a home
improvement
project.
DIG SMART
Follow these safe digging steps
each time you dig:
STEP 1: A free phone call to 811
makes it easy for your local one-call
center to notify appropriate utility
companies of your intent to dig. Call
a few days prior to digging to ensure
enough time for the approximate
location of utility lines to be marked
with flags or paint.
STEP 2: Know where you plan
to dig and have a basic idea of what
you plan to do. When you call 811, a
representative from your local one-call
center will ask for the location and
description of your digging project.
STEP 3: Your local one-call center
W
hat do planting a tree,
building a patio, installing a
pool and putting up a fence
have in common? These popular home
improvement projects add value to your
home, and they require an important
safety step: getting utility lines marked
before digging.
With so many people spending
more time at home, homeowners are
tackling DIY projects at growing levels
- 19.5 million Americans plan to dig
this year as part of a home improvement
project, according to the Spring
2021 Homeowner Omnibus Research
from Common Ground Alliance.
Unfortunately, two in five homeowners
will miss the crucial step of calling 811
to get utility lines marked before
they dig.
DON'T RISK IT
Tempted to skip this step? You
are putting yourself, your family
and your entire community at risk.
Unintentionally striking one of
16 | Cooperative Living | August 2021
these lines can result in inconvenient
outages for entire neighborhoods,
serious harm to yourself or your
neighbors, and significant repair costs.
CGA research found that one-third
of American homeowners have been
affected by a utility service interruption
during the pandemic. This can be
particularly frustrating as people
spend more time at home, relying on
essential utilities to work, study and
stay entertained. You don't want your
digging activity to be the reason your
neighborhood faces an inconvenient
outage, or worse.
If you think it won't happen, think
again. " A utility line is damaged every
few minutes in the U.S. because someone
decided to dig without making a call to
811 to learn the approximate location
of buried utilities in their area, " says
Sarah Magruder Lyle, president and
CEO of CGA. " Calling 811 to get utilities
marked before digging is free and easy,
and will protect you, your community
and the utilities you rely on. "
will notify affected utility companies,
which will then send professional
locators to the proposed dig site to
mark the approximate location of
buried utility lines with colored flags
and paint.
STEP 4: Wait the required amount
of time for the lines to be marked.
Once all lines have been accurately
marked, carefully dig around the
marked areas.
There are nearly 20 million miles
of underground utility lines in the
United States, which equates to
more than a football field's length of
utilities for every person in the U.S.
Your family depends on this buried
infrastructure for your everyday
needs, including electric, natural
gas, water and sewer, cable TV, highspeed
internet and landline telephone.
With that much critical infrastructure
underground, it's important
to know what's below and call 811
before digging. 
Tofind out more information about
811 or the one-call center in your area,
visit call811.com.
co-opliving.com
http://www.call811.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living August 2021

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