How It Works

Yes.  You should call no matter how deep you are digging, since many cables and pipes lie at extremely shallow depths. Utah law defines “excavation” as “an operation in which earth, rock, or other material on or below the ground is moved or displaced by tools, equipment, explosives, or demolition.” The law specifies the requirement to provide notice for marking before excavating.

Utah law only requires facility operators to mark the facility lines that they own and maintain. This usually means up to the meter. Underground lines that extend beyond the meter or that are not connected to a meter are typically not installed or owned by a facility operator and therefore may not be marked. These include water and sewer laterals, power to a detached garage or lamppost, sprinkler / irrigation systems, lines connected to a propane tank or septic system, etc.

Almost every job site will include some type of privately-owned underground pipe or cable. The excavator should inspect the property carefully and ask the property owner about private underground lines before digging. The excavator should consider hiring a private locator to mark private lines that could be in conflict with the excavation project. Areas where private lines are especially common include apartment or townhome complexes, mobile home parks, gated subdivisions, cabin communities, schools and universities, hospital complexes, industrial areas, government facilities and military installations. 

Locating companies that can be hired to mark private lines:
(Blue Stakes of Utah 811 does not endorse or promote any private locating company)

The following entities do not participate with Blue Stakes. If you need to dig on property owned or controlled by one of these entities, please contact that entity directly in addition to contacting Blue Stakes.

– Union Pacific Railroad – “Call Before You Dig!” Hotline – 800-336-9193
– Utah Transit Authority – UTA Control Center – 801-352-6701
– Hill Air Force Base – Red Stake – 801-777-0540
– Navajo Tribal Utility Authority – (for Navajo Nation lands) – 800-528-5011

Blue Stakes recommends that excavators perform a thorough visual inspection of the entire dig site area to determine if all underground facilities have been located prior to beginning excavation. Excavators should ensure that each facility operator was notified and has responded. Facility operators may respond to the notification by marking the site, or by phone, email, or through Electronic Positive Response. If an Excavator is aware of or observes indications of a facility that was not marked in the work area covered by a current locate request, they are required to submit a NRSP notice before they can start digging and provide which facility operator(s) or facility type(s) have not responded or marked. This can be done anytime online at https://otr.bluestakes.org/ or by calling 811 during business hours. See FAQ #21 for more information regarding No Response Notices. 

To check for Electronic Positive Responses from participating member facility operators, go to Blue Stakes Positive Response page, click on the “Check your ticket’s responses” button and then enter the ticket number.  This will display a list of all participating member facility operators for that request, including if and how they each have responded to the locate request.  

Member facility operators will mark their facility lines at no cost. If you need the facility lines marked again as you continue excavating, they will be marked at no charge.

However, if you request the same area to be marked multiple times and do not excavate, the member facility operators may bill you for their costs to mark the area.

Locate Requests are NOT created after hours by Blue Stakes. If an emergency excavation needs to be completed after hours, you will need to contact each facility operator directly to request the area be marked or have them clear the area. To obtain a list of the impacted facilities use our Utility Contact Lookup link: https://ucl.bluestakes.org/. This is also accessible by clicking on the Utility Contact Lookup icon from within our Mobile App.

Enter the location information, use the tools provided to indicate the location on the map, and select “Emergency After Hours.” A popup will then provide a contact list of the numbers for the specific member facility operators that would need to be contacted directly after hours.

The depth of facilities varies by location and by type of facility. An underground pipe or cable may no longer be at the same depth as when it was originally buried if grading, leveling, erosion or other nearby surface activity has taken place. For that reason, Utah law does not require facility operators to indicate the depth of their underground facilities. Utah law does not specify how deep facilities must be buried. Please see FAQ #1.