Colonial Pipeline Raises Pipeline Awareness (Marietta Daily Journal)

Marietta Daily Journal – 4/14/2015
By: Hilary Butschek 

Anyone needing to dig a hole to plant a tree, put up a fence or install a mailbox or any other projects should call 811 to get information about how to spot underground utilities.

Common Ground Alliance, a national organization dedicated to protecting underground utility lines and the safety of people who dig near them, is working to raise awareness about the information 811 can offer during April, which is National Safe Digging Month.

A homeowner can call 811 for free and the call center will notify local utility companies in the area the homeowner plans to dig in. Within a few days, professionals will mark where underground utilities are located with paint or flags.

Then homeowners can dig knowing they won’t cause outages for others.

According to data collected by the Common Ground Alliance, an underground utility line is damaged once every six minutes.

Also, GA found 45 percent of homeowners in the U.S. don’t call 811.

Colonial Pipeline, which is based in Alpharetta and operates an underground pipeline connecting Houston with Linden, New Jersey, is also working to improve awareness of underground utilities. Donna Harrington-Burns, manager of Colonial’s public awareness programs, said people should call 811 before digging to make sure there won’t be any impact on neighbors.

“CGA’s survey shows people are aware of the safety concerns of striking an underground utility, but aren’t calling 811 as a first step in the digging process,” Harrington-Burns said. ​“We want to remind people that making the free 811 call greatly reduces the likelihood of causing an incident, and we hope this will be a priority as they begin their spring home improvement projects.”

For more information about 811 services, visit www.call811.com.