You can’t see them, but JULIE knows where “they” are. “They” are the water and sewer lines buried on your property, but often also electric, gas, petroleum and communication lines as well. To avoid personal injury as well as damage to these lines or the environment, state law requires that the person actually doing any digging on your property call JULIE well in advance before any digging is done regardless of project size or depth. This includes digging for general construction as well as decks, patios, swing sets, signs, fountains, tents, fences, mail box posts, room additions, gardens, trees and swimming pools.

So meet JULIE, short for Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators, a nonprofit corporation that provides homeowners and professional excavators with a single point of contact free of charge, 24/7, for information about locating underground facilities on their property in Illinois outside the City of Chicago. It is an information sharing resource that neither owns nor marks any underground facilities.

You as a property owner are responsible for seeing to it that the underground facilities at your excavation sites are appropriately marked on a timely basis before digging. Within two working days after you call JULIE, representatives of each member utility company (not a JULIE staff person) will mark the location of their facilities with paint and/or flags, but not privately owned or installed lines or facilities (usually water and sewer lines as well as electric and gas lines to a garage or workshop).

So when you first begin to think about any work on your property that involves excavation, be sure find out what you have to know and do by calling JULIE free of charge at 811 or (800) 892-0123, or check out the Illinois One-Call System at www.Illinois1call.com. And call well in advance to be sure that you’ve allowed enough time for the notification and marking process to work properly.