April is National Safe Digging month, and in effort to increase awareness, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is informing residents about the requirement of calling 811 before starting digging projects.
South Dakota’s 811 call line is dedicated to marking utility lines. When landowners call 811, the state informs utility providers, who then leave marks that indicate the location and depth of utility lines.
Not calling 811 can cause digging to damage utility lines, which results in harm to individuals or outages across communities.
“Number one, it’s a safety concern, and so we want to make sure that it prevents injuries, and number two, we want to make sure our utilities — our buried utilities — continue to work,” PUC Chairperson Kristie Fiegen said. “All of us want the lights on all the time, and we want our internet to work, so we really want to protect our neighbors with that.”
Calling 811 more than two business days before the start of a project is a legal requirement for any form of digging. According to the Public Utilities Commission, the only exceptions are gardening that is less than one foot into the ground and farm tilling that is less than 18 inches.
While Fiegen said there are many reasons landowners and excavators don’t call 811, one of the most common is people rushing projects along, which is made more common by the arrival of spring.
“We’re all in a hurry,” Fiegen said. “We’re ready to get outside. We’re ready to get our jobs done — new fence, new trees, a new home addition — but we just have to stop and remember to protect our utilities and protect the safety.”
Another mindset that leads people to skip calling 811 is when landowners think they already know where their utility lines are. According to the Public Utilities Commission, lines can change in location or depth as a result of erosion, uneven surfaces or previous digging projects.
According to Fiegen, damage or outages can lead to fines and education sessions for the landowners or excavators.