Before You Dig in Idaho: Digline 811 and a Site Prep Checklist

Everything under your yard is out of sight until a bucket finds it. Gas lines, power, water, sewer and telephone or internet cables run under most properties in the Treasure Valley, and hitting one can mean an outage, a repair bill or a serious injury. That's why there's a free service to mark them first.

This guide covers how Digline works, what it doesn't mark and a checklist for getting your site ready, whether you're hiring an excavator or digging yourself.

What Digline Is

Digline is Idaho's one-call service for marking underground utilities. You call 811, or submit a request online, and the utility companies send someone to mark where their public lines run. It's free.

The rule of thumb is simple: call before you dig, every time. Digging a post hole, planting a tree, putting in a fence and trenching a water line all count.

How It Works

1. Submit a request at least two business days before you plan to dig. Give the address and describe where on the property the work will happen.
2. Wait for the marks. Utility companies mark their lines with paint or flags. Don't dig until they've responded.
3. Check the marks before you start, and look for anything that doesn't match what you know about the property.
4. Dig carefully near the marks. Hand-dig close to a marked line instead of using a machine, so you can see what's there.
5. Keep the marks visible. If rain, lawn mowing or traffic erases them, call again.

If you hire a contractor, they'll normally make the call. We call before every job. It's still smart to ask, and to show us what you know about your own lines.

What the Colors Mean

Marks follow a standard color code:

• Red: electric power
• Yellow: gas, oil or other flammable lines
• Orange: telephone, cable and internet
• Blue: drinking water
• Green: sewer and drain lines
• Pink: survey marks
• White: the area you plan to dig, marked by you or the contractor
• Purple: reclaimed or irrigation water

If you see colors that don't match your lines, ask before you start.

What Digline Doesn't Mark

This is the part that catches people. Digline covers public utility lines. Lines you or a previous owner installed are private, so they won't be marked. Think about:

• Sprinkler mains, valves and drip lines
• Power to a shop, barn, pump or pool house
• Water lines to a detached building or stock tank
• Propane lines from a tank to the house
• Septic tank, lines and drainfield
• Irrigation pipe and pressurized irrigation lines on your property
• Low-voltage landscape lighting wires
• Old, abandoned lines from earlier work

Private lines are the owner's job to locate. Look for as-built drawings, old permits and invoices. Walk the property and look for valve boxes, cleanouts, tank lids and junction boxes. If you can't find a line, a private locator can trace it for a fee, and a careful crew can dig test holes by hand or with a machine to find it. That's called potholing.

For septic systems, the health district often has records. Our septic repair page has more on finding a buried tank.

Special Cases

• Irrigation ditches and canals. These belong to irrigation districts or ditch companies, and they may have easements and rules for working near them. See our ditch digging page.
• Shallow lines. In the Treasure Valley, lines can be shallow, especially older ones or ones installed by homeowners. Don't assume a line is deep.
• Emergencies. If you hit a gas line, leave the area right away and call 911. Don't try to fix it. For a damaged power, water or sewer line, call the utility.

A Site Prep Checklist

Whether you're hiring a crew or digging yourself, run through this list before work starts.

Utilities

• Digline request submitted, with two business days passed
• Marks checked, and walked with the crew
• Private lines located and marked with flags or paint

Access

• Gate or fence opening wide enough for the machine
• Overhead lines and low branches noted
• Soft or wet ground, septic tanks and drainfields marked as no-drive zones
• A place to park the equipment and trucks

Dirt and debris

• A plan for where the dirt will go: hauled, spread or stockpiled (see our dirt hauling page)
• Plants, furniture, toys and lawn ornaments moved out of the work area

Permits and rules

• Building, grading or utility permits in hand, if required
• HOA rules on work hours, trucks and fencing checked
• Property lines and easements confirmed

Neighbors

• A heads-up to nearby neighbors about noise and trucks
• Shared fences or driveways identified

Timing

• A weather plan. Wet clay is hard to dig and hard to compact, and frozen ground slows everything down.
• Irrigation season in mind, since ditches and sprinkler lines are active April to October

When to Call a Crew

A fence post or a flower bed is a weekend project. Trenching for water, sewer or power, digging for a septic system or a pool, and anything deep enough to need shoring are better left to a crew. See our trenching services, utility excavation and water line excavation pages for the kinds of work we do.

We're an Idaho registered contractor (RCE-65836) based in Caldwell, with a 5.0 rating on Google. We call Digline before we dig, and we'll ask about private lines at the estimate. Call (208) 697-2429 or request a free estimate.