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News Release > Know what’s below – Call 811 before digging, excavation
Know what’s below – Call 811 before digging, excavation
04/20/2022
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As part of National Safe Digging Month, Entergy Arkansas is reminding people to call 811 before digging into your list of spring projects. This easy process helps prevent injuries, property damage and inconvenient utility outages to homeowners and other residents, officials said, by talking briefly with Arkansas One Call representatives.
“Spring is a good time to start home improvement and landscaping projects, so it’s also the right time to remind customers of the importance of safe digging practices,” said Ventrell Thompson, Entergy Arkansas acting vice president of customer service. “Everyone – homeowners, business owners and contractors – should call 811 to determine the location of existing lines in order to limit the chances of striking underground utility lines, including gas, water and electric. Not only is it the safe thing to do, but it’s also the law.”
The focus of National Safe Digging Month each April is on preventing serious consequences that could occur from digging without knowing what’s below the surface – not only now, but year-round. Arkansas One Call representatives provide direction on how to submit requests to learn what utilities may be buried beneath the ground, such as natural gas pipelines, electric power lines and other services, he said.
Regardless of what you plan to do, how deep you plan to dig or even if you’ve called before for a similar project, every job requires a call first, as experts say erosion, settling and other factors can change the depth and location of utilities over time.
After you make the call to 811, professional locators will mark the approximate locations of underground lines at the requested digging site with flags, paint or both. Markings show the location of underground lines and help prevent undesired consequences such as injury, service disruptions or costly fines and repair costs.
In accordance with 811 color codes, electric power lines and lighting cables are identified by the color red; gas, oil and steam lines are be identified by the color yellow; and telecommunication, alarm and signal lines are identified by the color orange.
The depth of underground utility lines varies and there may be multiple utility lines in one common area, and the risk of striking underground utility lines exists even when digging only a few inches. If digging activity comes within 18 inches of a utility line or pipeline, people should exercise extreme caution.
If you suspect utility damage of any kind, leave the area immediately and call 1-800-ENTERGY (1-800-368-3749) or call 911. For more information, visit Arkansas811.com, Entergy.com/safety/dig/ or call 800-482-8998.
Entergy Arkansas provides electricity to approximately 722,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Arkansas is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,500 employees.
