Best Practice Spotlight – Privately Owned Facilities

Best Practice Spotlight – Privately Owned Facilities 

One of the common points of confusion in the damage prevention process is the locating of privately owned facilities. Many facilities on private property are owned by the property owner rather than the facility owner/utility provider. For example: water and sewer lines are operated by the facility owner only up to the demarcation point, (typically a CC valve near the property line). After that point, the water line is owned by the property owner and will therefore not be marked when a water and sewer facility locator responds to a request for locates on private property. 

Best Practice 4.2 of the  Canadian Common Ground Alliance Best Practice v.4 addresses the need for excavators to account for privately owned facilities in their work area: 

4 - 2: Privately Owned Facility Awareness
Practice Statement - Prior to excavating, the excavator must be aware that privately owned underground utility infrastructure may exist within the work area. The excavator should request the property owner to locate its buried facilities or hire a Locator (private or otherwise) to locate and mark these buried facilities on the property owner’s behalf.

Practice Description - It is incumbent on the excavator to ensure that all buried facilities, both publicly and privately owned, in and near the work area have been located and marked. Privately owned buried facilities are typically not marked by representatives of the public utility owners beyond the demarcation point for each utility. The excavator should have all known private facilities in and near the work area identified, located, and marked prior to excavation activities.

Identification activities undertaken by the excavator, or its Locator include, but are not limited to:

1. Records Review – review utility records to identify the presence of privately owned facilities and determine connection points where an active signal trace can be used to locate these buried facilities. Records include but are not limited to:
   a) Public (usually Notification Center generated) locate reports for the work area
   b) Design, construction, or as-built drawings for the site
   c) Property Surveys
2. Site Interviews – interview site operations personnel to further help
   identify potential underground infrastructure on-site.
3. Visual Inspection – visually inspect the work area and associated building utility rooms for indications of the presence of buried facilities.
4. Locate Private Utility Infrastructure – obtain from the owner, or with the owner’s authorization, locate reports from a locator to confirm that known private buried facilities have been located and marked.
5. Records Review – review utility records to identify the presence of privately owned facilities and determine connection points where an active signal trace can be used to locate these buried facilities. Records include but are not limited to:
   a) Public (usually Notification Center generated) locate reports for the work area
   b) Design, construction, or as-built drawings for the site
   c) Property Surveys
6. Site Interviews – interview site operations personnel to further help identify potential underground infrastructure on-site.
7. Visual Inspection – visually inspect the work area and associated building utility rooms for indications of the presence of buried facilities.
8. Locate Private Utility Infrastructure – obtain from the owner, or with the owner’s authorization, locate reports from a locator to confirm that known private buried facilities have been located and marked.

Sher Kirk – Operations Director, USP

Example of privately owned facility lines