1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, prior to any excavation, an excavator shall contact the notification center and provide notice of the planned excavation. This notice must be given at least forty-eight hours prior to the commencement of the excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. The notification center shall establish a toll-free telephone number to allow excavators to provide the notice required pursuant to this subsection.
A notice provided pursuant to this subsection shall be verbal and include the following information:
a. The name of the person providing the notice.
b. The precise location of the proposed area of excavation, including the range, township, section, and quarter section, if known.
c. The name and address of the excavator.
d. The excavator's telephone number.
e. The type and extent of the proposed excavation.
f. Whether the discharge of explosives is anticipated.
g. The date and time when excavation is scheduled to begin.
For purposes of the requirements of this section, an excavation commences the first time excavation occurs in an area that was not previously identified by the excavator in an excavation notice.
2. The notification center, upon receiving notice from an excavator, shall immediately transmit the information contained in the notice to each operator in the area of the proposed excavation and provide the names of all operators in that area to the excavator. The notification center shall assign an inquiry identification number to each notice and shall maintain a record of each notice for at least six years from the date the notice is received. The notification center shall not assess an operator who requests in writing not to receive a notification of its own excavations for any portion of the costs associated with such excavations.
3. a. (1) An operator who receives notice from the notification center shall mark the horizontal location of the operator's underground facility and the excavator shall use due care in excavating in the marked area to avoid damaging the underground facility. The operator shall complete such locating and marking within forty-eight hours after receiving the notice, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, unless otherwise agreed by the operator and the excavator. The locating and marking of the underground facilities shall be completed at no cost to the excavator. If, in the opinion of the operator, the planned excavation requires that the precise location of the underground facilities be determined, the excavator, unless otherwise agreed upon between the excavator and the operator, shall hand dig test holes to determine the location of the facilities unless the operator specifies an alternate method.
(2) The marking required under this subsection shall be done in a manner that will last for a minimum of five working days on any nonpermanent surface, or a minimum of ten working days on any permanent surface. If the excavation will continue for any period longer than such periods, the operator shall remark the location of the underground facility upon the request of the excavator. The request shall be made through the notification center.
b. An operator who receives notice from the notification center and who determines that the operator does not have any underground facility located within the proposed area of excavation shall notify the excavator concerning this determination prior to the indicated date of commencement of excavation.
c. For purposes of this chapter, the "horizontal location of any underground facility" is defined as including an area eighteen inches on either side of the underground facility.
4. An excavator is responsible for preserving the markings required in subsection 3 at all times during the excavation. If the markings will be destroyed or otherwise altered during the excavation, the excavator must establish suitable reference points which will enable the excavator to locate the underground facility at all times during the excavation.
5. The operator shall mark the location of any underground facility to conform with the uniform color code established by the American public works association's utility location and coordination council.
6. The only exception to this section shall be when an emergency exists. Under such conditions, excavation operations can begin immediately, provided reasonable precautions are taken to protect the underground facilities. The excavator shall notify the notification center of the excavation as soon as practical.
92 Acts, ch 1103, § 4
Iowa General Assembly
Search: Iowa Code 1997
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