FOR YOUR SAFETY,
PLEASE CALL 811 TO HAVE UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATIONS MARKED BEFORE YOU DIG

BEFORE YOU DIG, PLEASE CALL THE TOLL-FREE “811” TELEPHONE LINE TO HAVE UNDERGROUND FACILITIES MARKED.

REQUESTING THAT UTILITY LOCATIONS BE MARKED IS ESSENTIAL FOR YOUR SAFETY, TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO UTILITIES AND MAINTAIN UTILITY SERVICES TO YOUR NEIGHBORS.

THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR CALLING 811 OR FOR HAVING UTILITY LOCATIONS MARKED.

State law requires anyone planning excavation work in street rights-of-way, public spaces or utility easements to contact utilities at least 48 hours before digging so that the utilities can mark the location of their pipes, cables, etc.  If the planned work is not completed within 10 days of the initial call, a new request to have utility locations marked is required.

To make it easy for citizens and companies to request that utility locations be marked, a non-profit organization, the North Carolina One-Call Center, Inc. was formed several years ago as a clearinghouse for such requests. When you call the Center by dialing 811, your request to mark underground utilities will be automatically relayed to the participating utilities in the area. More than 200 public and private utilities are members of the One-Call Center.

OWASA uses blue spray paint to indicate the location of its water pipes and green paint for our sanitary sewer lines. The paint normally remains visible for at least two weeks unless it is covered, etc.

Please be aware that OWASA marks only the location of its public underground water and sewer pipes, which are typically in a street right-of-way or utility easement.  We do not locate privately-owned pipes such as water and sewer service lines, sometimes called laterals, which run from an OWASA water meter to a house or other building, or from our public sewer main to a building. Customers who need to check the location of private water and sewer pipes may need to have that work done by a plumber.