Key takeaways
- Washington law requires an excavator to request utility locates through the one-call center before digging; the notice period is two business days.
- Utility locators mark their own facilities up to the meter or the service point, not the private lines beyond it.
- The private water line from the meter to the house, irrigation, drains, septic lines and lighting wiring are not marked by 811.
- A private locate finds those lines before a shovel, post or bucket does.
The one-call system
Washington's Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act requires anyone excavating to notify the one-call center before they dig, by phone at 811 or online, with at least two business days' notice. Member utilities then send locators to mark their underground facilities in the planned excavation area with paint and flags: red for electric, yellow for gas, orange for communications, blue for water, green for sewer. The marks are good for a set period and must be refreshed if work continues past it. We request locates before any machine excavation, every time.
What gets marked
Utilities mark the facilities they own. For water, that is the main in the street and the service up to and including the meter. For electric, the lines to the meter base. For gas, the line to the meter. For communications, the drop to the house or the pedestal. The marks are accurate and useful for exactly those facilities.
What doesn't get marked
Everything on the private side. The water service line from the meter to the house. The line to a shop, barn or ADU. The irrigation mainline and laterals. Buried downspout and footing drains. Septic lines and drainfield components. Low-voltage lighting wiring. Private electric to a gate or a pump house. Those lines are the property owner's, and on most Kitsap properties nobody has a drawing of where they run. A fence contractor, a landscaper or a homeowner with a post-hole digger can hit any of them with locates on the ground and every public line properly marked.
Private locating
A private locate traces and marks the lines 811 doesn't. Metallic pipe and tracer wire are traced directly with a pipe and cable locator. Plastic pipe without tracer wire takes acoustic methods, sondes, and reasoning from the meter, the point of entry and the shutoffs. The lines are painted and flagged and a simple sketch with distances from fixed points is provided so the information outlasts the paint. Before a fence, a deck, a patio, a shop, a tree planting or any excavation on a Kitsap property, a private locate is cheap insurance.
Written by the crew at 360 Leak Finders
We locate, excavate and repair buried water lines and exterior drains across Kitsap County, 24 hours a day. If this guide raised a question about your property, call (206) 354-9906.