Kentucky 811 Basic Site Information
Kentucky 811 is a notification service to help excavators get underground utilities located prior to digging. Residents and contractors can either phone “811†or go to the 811 website (www.kentucky811.org) to start the process of determining whether there are underground utilities in the area you are planning to excavate. This must be done, at a minimum, of two (2) full business days prior to when you hope to dig. These two (2) days exclude weekends and holidays. It is also the Law in Kentucky that you must contact Kentucky 811 before you do any excavation, which includes digging holes for fence post or holes to plant new trees, any grading below 6 inches, including trenching and other type of excavations. See definition of all activities that are considered digging and excavating by Kentucky Law in the Excavation Definition below (the entire law can be viewed on the Kentucky 811 website):
It is important to note that not all utilities in Kentucky belong to the Kentucky 811 program. Kentucky 811 only contacts the utilities in your area that are members of their organization. At the end of the phone call, or their on-line customer service site process, you will get a list of all the utilities that the KY 811 service will contact. However, you will be responsible to determine if other utility operators have facilities in the area of your planned excavation AND contact them directly to make sure they have no underground utilities in your proposed or targeted area for excavation. Furthermore, the majority (if not all) of these utilities only locate their lines from their meters back into their systems. For example the water utilities generally do not locate the service line that runs from their water meter to you home. They consider this your line - which you are responsible to locate. The gas line running from your Propane Tank to your home is also not included in a Kentucky 811 notification service, as well as gutter drainage lines and some other lines.
The information on this web site is intended to help the public become more informed about how the Kentucky 811 process works in our State, but this is not intended to cover every possible type of issue surrounding the location of underground utilities and it is not an interpretation of any local, state, federal law or ordinance. Please seek professional legal advice if you have questions. If you are not 100 percent sure you have contacted all the utilities or have all the utilities marked in your proposed dig site you can contact a private line locating company, who will for a fee, assist you locating and identifying private lines.
If you go to the Kentucky 811 web site. There is a tutorial link on their Home Page that walks you through the process of what information is required to file a dig notice and get a “Dig Ticket†that is proof you contacted 811. We encourage you to view this tutorial – look for the “Tutorial Link†on the Kentucky 811 Home Page.
There are other links below to help inform the public on basic information on Kentucky 811 laws and general underground utility location process. Damaging an underground utility line can cause an unnecessary interruption to service, be costly to repair and cause property damage or injury. The information on this web site could change without notice. Please check with Kentucky 811 or your local utilities to make sure you have up to date information.
"Excavation" means any activity that results in the movement, placement, probing, boring, or removal of earth, rock, or other material in or on the ground by the use of any tools or equipment, by the discharge of explosives, or by the harvesting of timber using mechanized equipment. Forms of excavating include but are not limited to auguring, backfilling, digging, ditching, drilling, driving, grading, piling, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, and tunneling. Driving wooden stakes by use of hand tools to a depth of six (6) inches or less below existing grade shall not constitute excavation;
It is important to note that not all utilities in Kentucky belong to the Kentucky 811 program. Kentucky 811 only contacts the utilities in your area that are members of their organization. At the end of the phone call, or their on-line customer service site process, you will get a list of all the utilities that the KY 811 service will contact. However, you will be responsible to determine if other utility operators have facilities in the area of your planned excavation AND contact them directly to make sure they have no underground utilities in your proposed or targeted area for excavation. Furthermore, the majority (if not all) of these utilities only locate their lines from their meters back into their systems. For example the water utilities generally do not locate the service line that runs from their water meter to you home. They consider this your line - which you are responsible to locate. The gas line running from your Propane Tank to your home is also not included in a Kentucky 811 notification service, as well as gutter drainage lines and some other lines.
The information on this web site is intended to help the public become more informed about how the Kentucky 811 process works in our State, but this is not intended to cover every possible type of issue surrounding the location of underground utilities and it is not an interpretation of any local, state, federal law or ordinance. Please seek professional legal advice if you have questions. If you are not 100 percent sure you have contacted all the utilities or have all the utilities marked in your proposed dig site you can contact a private line locating company, who will for a fee, assist you locating and identifying private lines.
If you go to the Kentucky 811 web site. There is a tutorial link on their Home Page that walks you through the process of what information is required to file a dig notice and get a “Dig Ticket†that is proof you contacted 811. We encourage you to view this tutorial – look for the “Tutorial Link†on the Kentucky 811 Home Page.
There are other links below to help inform the public on basic information on Kentucky 811 laws and general underground utility location process. Damaging an underground utility line can cause an unnecessary interruption to service, be costly to repair and cause property damage or injury. The information on this web site could change without notice. Please check with Kentucky 811 or your local utilities to make sure you have up to date information.
