As we begin doing more and more work outdoors with the change of the seasons, we all should be sure to remember JULIE again if we’re going to be doing any digging on our property. JULIE, you may recall, is the one-call system serving all of Illinois outside the City of Chicago for making digging safer. That includes digging to put up a fence, to set up a swing set, to put in a mail box post, to create a water feature (such as a pool, pond or fountain), to build a room addition or deck, to prepare a new garden or landscape layout, or to plant trees, bushes or shrubs.

The whole idea is to identify underground utility lines before you begin any digging so you avoid environmental or property damage and costly delays as well as liabilities and possible injury or loss of life.

While you’re still planning the digging you might do then, be sure to contact JULIE, the Illinois One-Call System, at least two working days ahead. JULIE will arrange for its member utility operators to mark their lines on your site free of charge so you can dig safely. JULIE, Inc., doesn’t do the marking, its member utility operators do; they locate and mark their own lines on your site. Just call 811 or visit www.illinois1call.com.

If the property you are working on is within the City of Chicago, call Diggers Hotline at (312) 744-7000.

Since its founding in 1984, the not-for-profit JULIE has become one of the nation’s largest industry one-call systems, with 1,730 members and now handling 1.2 million locate requests a year. You’ll be in good company with JULIE. And safer.