Carpinteria Water District: Call Before You Dig

Water Conservation: "Call before you dig"

Whether you're breaking ground or just installing a new sprinkler system, avoid personal injury and underground line damage by calling before you dig. Southern California's "Call Before You Dig" program is maintained by Underground Service Alert of Southern California. Both contractors and homeowners are required by law to call Underground Service Alert at (800) 227-2600 at least two days before digging.

Underground Service Alert will notify local utility companies, including the Carpinteria Valley Water District. Utility employees will then come to your site and mark the underground lines or give the okay to dig.

Follow these steps to have your site marked properly:

1. Before calling Underground Service Alert, outline the location where you will be digging with white chalk or stakes. Your site must be completely outlined for utilities to mark their lines properly.

2. Call Underground Service Alert at (800) 227-2600 between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. at least two days before you plan to dig. Refer to the list below so you know exactly what information you will need when you call.

3. At the end of your call, you will receive a ticket number that will be good for 14 days. If you need to call USA back, please have this number on hand for making updates or requesting additional markings from a particular utility provider.

4. Utility members will either mark the horizontal path of their underground lines at your site; provide you with information about the lines; or let you know if there aren't any lines under your dig site.

What do the markings mean?

When utility companies come to mark your digging site, they'll use colored paint or stakes to mark utility lines within your digging area. Each type of utility has a unique color:

COLOR CODE
for marking underground Facilities

Red

Electric

Yellow

Gas-Oil-Steam

Orange

Communication/CATV

Blue

Water

Green

Sewer

Purple

Reclaimed Water

Pink

Temp Survey Markings

White

Proposed Excavation


REQUIRED LOCATION INFORMATION


Job Location		The job location will consist of the location address including cross streets, city and county.

Site delineation		When you call in to have your site marked you will be asked by the Underground Service Alert operator whether the site has been delineated or not. This is very important since the utility providers will not be able to mark without them.

Your Name		You will need to provide your contact information in case the company that is doing the work cannot be reached along with your telephone number.
Company doing work		If you are having a contractor doing the work then please indicate this to the operator. You will also need to provide your point of contact for the company as well as their telephone number.

Nature of Work		Indicate the type of work that will be performed at the site.

Permit Number		If you have a permit provided by a city or county agency you will need to provide this to the Underground Service Alert operator.

Thomas Guide grids		You will need to provide a Thomas Guide grid(s) for the site location. Some utility providers require this information so they know, which department will be handling the marking of facilities.

Date work will start		This date will be the actual date work will begin. Remember you must give a minimum of two days from the time you call Underground Service Alert before you can actually start site work.

Carpinteria Valley
Water District

1301 Santa Ynez Ave
Carpinteria, CA 93013

T: (805) 684-2816
F: (805) 684-3170
E: info@cvwd.net

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