The phone service that lets Iowans know where it’s safe to dig without danger, is claiming success. People planning to do any excavating are now required by law to contact “Iowa One-Call” — which is for homeowners orprofessional workers, any time they disturb the dirt. One-Call director Nancy Jensen says From the year 2000 to 2001, it was clear the message was getting through about calling for the into to avoid “dig-ins”…incidents in which workers accidentally broke electric, gas or other lines. She says the number of tickets written for a “dig-in that damaged property fell from 5,194 in 2000 to 4,680 in 2001. And tickets written for failing to give One-Call the required 48-hour notice fell from about 28-thousand toseventeen-thousand. Jensen says there are more than 13-hundred members, all phone, gas, electric, cable TV, water and sewer companies are members of One Call. And nearly a thousand fewer “emergency tickets” were written in thesame year, for situations that endangered life of health, caused damage or cut off important services. Jensen says state law requires Iowans planning to dig to call at least 48 hours before the work begins, whether they’replanting a tree, building a deck, or excavation at a commercial site, and failing to make the call could be costly. Liability for the damages and also state penalties, she says. The number’s 1-800-292-8989.
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