Utility lines

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Gouranga

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I got a chuckle out of this so I thought I would share. Our city recently decided they would need to dig out my ditch and my neighbors and regrade the whole setup. They really got a LOT more than they counted on. To begin with my one neighbor went insane at the thought of his front yard being dug up, especially when there is NO drainage problem (we had 3 tropical storms go through our subdivision last year and nothing backed up in the slightest). After he annoyed the city council, mayor, engineers office, they gave up on his property. My other neighbor could have cared less until they started digging and big time pulled up his gas main (they are about 6 inches underground in our subdivision.) So after the gas company can in and repaired everything they got going again and within 10 minutes dug up the water main in front of his house. so after another day they finally finished his house. Got to my property, dug up my gas main in the first 5 minutes then my water main. I have never seen a backhoe guy as pissed off in my life. When they finished my ditch I was chatting with him and he told me he had been asked to do a couple other ditches in our subdivision and pretty much told the city what they could do with their ditches. Needless to say the city has since decided it will not be attempting touch another ditch unless they are specifically requested to do so.
 

Norcal1

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Sounds like nobody marked off where the underground utilities were...very dangerous.
 

Brownizs

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Norcal said:
Sounds like nobody marked off where the underground utilities were...very dangerous.

No, the problem is, you do not expect utilities to be only 6" underground. You expect them at least 4-6' underground.
 

Jadnashua

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In most places, it is illegal to dig before you call the utilities to mark the locations. Whether that would hold for the city, probably not. Do as I say, not as I do seems to apply here. Where I live, if you don't call first, and break a line, there is a big fine.
 

Cass

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I'm not sure if it is against law not to call but you are responsible for what happens if you don't. If you call and they fail to mark or fail to mark the right spot and you hit something someone else pays for the repair, not you . In the case of hitting a fiberoptic line or high pressure gas line it could get quite expensive.
 

hj

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utility

No, the problem is, you do not expect utilities to be only 6" underground. You expect them at least 4-6' underground.

No. You call anytime you are going to dig. And regardless of who the original caller is to have the utilities marked, you make sure your name/company is listed on the call slip so you are protected against errant lines. Here it is the law, and there can be big fines, and bigger repair costs if the line is damaged and there was not request to locate them.
 

Gouranga

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Well they had a couple issues, first of all they did call and have the lines painted. Our gas lines in this neighborhood are so shallow they are frequently cut. My neighbor was in his yard with a little shovel in a flower bed and cut his 4-5" under ground. I could not beleive it was so shallow.
As for the water, I didn't even know it was there. I am not sure what the main was hooked to, we do have a firehydrant nearby and that may have been what it was for. It was one of those (usually blue) metal caps that protrude a couple inches above the surface. In this case, it had been buried a few inches undreground for a decade or so. Nobody knew it was there.
Our county engineers office has some issues on reading it's own maps. I had an extended argument with one of our engineers people about a manhole cover in the far back corner of our lot. It was forming a sinkhole around it and I wanted the city to come fix it. This dude insisted it was not there. So when I told him, that since it was a figment of my imagination I would fill it in completely with steel reinforced concrete and build a shed over top of it, they decided to send out a field team to verify I was crazy. Then they found a manhole in my backyard. When I went back to the office, the city engineer was berating the guy for having no clue how to read a map. He apolgized to me up and down about it and told me he would try to hire people who could read in the future. The funny part is this is not the first time I have had an issue with this manhole cover. There is an easement there and when I was getting a permit for my addition the building inspector had suggested I move the addition over a dozen feet to open up my yard more, then we argued over whether or not there was an easement over there (which there is). I just could not believe that I had a city engineer telling me I was imagining a manhole in my yard. Anyone ever work for these departments? I wonder if it is a frequent problem that people imagine something like a manhole in their yard.
 
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