Call Before You Dig – 811

Prioritize Safety: Call 811 Before You Dig!

Whether you’re a contractor planning an excavation or a resident planting a tree, calling 811 beforehand is essential and mandated by law. This vital step prevents accidents, safeguards infrastructure, and guarantees a secure and efficient digging process.

Steps for Safe Digging:

Already submitted a ticket? Check the response status!

811 Response Display - Ticket Status Check

Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely, no matter the depth or shallowness of your digging, contacting 811 is required. According to Colorado State law, excavation encompasses various operations involving earth movement or removal through tools, equipment, or explosives, including augering, backfilling, boring, ditching, drilling, grading, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, hydro excavating, postholing, and tunneling.

By reaching out to 811, you protect yourself from causing fineable damage to underground utilities like cables, wires, or pipes, and significantly reduce the risk of personal injuries. Prioritizing this crucial step ensures a safe and incident-free excavation process.

Once you submit a ticket through Colorado 811, MVEA is notified and our locating contractor, USIC, will come out to your requested address to locate lines up to the meter.

  • Any electrical lines beyond your meter fall under the members’ responsibility. These may include power lines leading to barns, garages, outdoor lighting, or running from your transformer (green box or pedestal) to your property. Please note that if your meter is on a pedestal rather than on your house, we can only mark up to a meter of underground line.
  • For locating these additional buried lines, you must hire a private locator company. This ensures that all underground lines are thoroughly marked before any digging takes place, promoting safety and preventing accidental damage.

Utility owners and operators follow the APWA (American Public Works Association) standard color code to mark the locations of their underground facilities. The following colors are used:

RED – Electric Power Lines, Cables, Conduit and Lighting Cables
YELLOW – Gas, Oil, Steam, Petroleum or Gaseous Materials
ORANGE – Communication, Alarm or Signal Lines, Cables or Conduit
BLUE – Potable Water
PURPLE – Reclaimed Water, Irrigation and Slurry Lines
GREEN – Sewers and Drain Lines
WHITE – Proposed Excavation
PINK – Temporary Survey Markings

Any underground power lines that are beyond the electric meter (these could include lines to a building, house, gareage, etc.) are owned by the property owner and it is the owners responsibility to have these marked by a private locator company. MVEA only locates up to the electric meter. To find private locating companies, please refer to the list provided at https://colorado811.org/private-locate-companies.

You can start digging once you have all your markings or positive response from the utilities on your ticket.