Today’s date is August 11th or eight-eleven, which coincides with the number you should call before taking a shovel to dirt in your yard.
This is National Safe Digging Day and Ben Booth, spokesman for Iowa One Call, says to call 811 before you dig so all of your underground facilities — including gas, water, sewer, electric and communications — can be located and marked.
“You don’t want to dig into those things and disrupt that service,” Booth says. “It can be pricey to repair and more importantly, it could potentially be dangerous.” It’s not just a recommendation, it’s the law to call before you dig, and if you plan to dig this weekend, make the call by Thursday.
“You want to make sure that you give us notice at least 48 hours prior to doing any digging,” Booth says. “That does not include Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.” Some companies have seen their business dry up with the COVID-19 pandemic, but Booth says that’s not been the case with Iowa One Call.
“With so many people now staying closer to home and working from home, we see an uptick in residential work,” Booth says. “Lots of homeowners are doing more work and hiring contractors to do more work.” In addition to calling 811, you can also go online to “iowaonecall-dot-com” for more information.
(Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City contributed to this report.)