A.R.S. 40-360.22: Call Arizona 811 Before You Dig

Subsection A says a person "shall not make or begin any excavation" in a public street, alley, right-of-way, public utility easement, "any express or implied private property utility easement," an apartment community or a mobile home park without first finding out from every underground facilities operator whether lines are there and where.

The core rules in the article:

• Two working days to mark. Utilities generally must respond as promptly as practicable, no later than two working days. Apartment-community and mobile-home-park landlords have up to ten working days. Large projects use the separate coordination provisions in subsection R and following subsections. A deadline passing is not itself permission to dig.
• Wait for required responses. "A person may not begin excavating before the location and marking are complete or the excavator is notified that marking is unnecessary."
• White-line first. Before requesting locates, the excavator outlines the dig area in white. A person digging on single-family property they own or occupy is exempt.
• Marks expire. They're valid for 15 working days. To keep working past that, ask to extend at least two working days before they expire.
• Hand dig within 24 inches. The definition of "careful and prudent manner" requires that within 24 inches of a marked line, the line is exposed with hand tools and supported and protected.

"Working day" excludes Saturdays, Sundays, the fourth Friday in November and legal holidays.

• Excavation. Any moving of earth by tools, equipment or explosives, including trenching, digging, augering, boring, tunneling and pipe driving.
• Underground facility. Anything buried to carry water, sewage, gas, electricity, communications or other substances: pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves and manholes. Landscape irrigation systems two inches or smaller are carved out of the definition.
• Underground facilities operator. The utility or owner of the line. The sewer system operator must mark sewer lines owned by others if they were installed after December 31, 2005 in a street, right-of-way or public utility easement.
• Detectible underground location device. A tracer wire or similar device so a buried line can be found later.

The current definition in 40-360.21 includes a project exceeding one mile of linear excavation, a polygon of at least a quarter square mile, or an expected duration over 90 calendar days. It excludes on-site development of a new residential or commercial project on a previously undeveloped parcel. Subsection40-360.22(R) requires notice as soon as possible and at least 15 business days or 21 calendar days before the proposed start to arrange coordination. The marking schedule is developed through that process; it is not the ordinary two-working-day rule.

Anyone who digs where the statute applies: plumbing and sewer contractors, builders, pool and landscape crews, and owners doing their own work in an easement. It matters most on a sewer lateral replacement, where the trench runs from the house through the easement to the main and crosses gas, water, electric and fiber lines on the way.

It also reaches the installer. New underground facilities installed after December 31, 2005 must have a detectible location device, unless the line can be found electronically from above ground or sits under a pool, pool decking within 48 inches of the pool, or a building on single-family property. The local building official enforces that rule for private installations, with a civil penalty of up to $5,000.

A sewer lateral replacement. The contractor white-lines the path from cleanout to street on a Wednesday and requests locates. For a standard request, utilities generally have two working days to respond, subject to the applicable statutory arrangements. At an apartment community or mobile home park, plan for the landlord's ten-working-day response as well. Begin only after the required responses and location steps are complete. The Phoenix crew still pulls its civil permit, because the statute doesn't replace city excavation rules.

A trench that finds a mystery line. Halfway to the main, the crew uncovers a pipe nobody marked. The law requires notifying the operator. Covering it and moving on, or moving the paint to hide the miss, is a violation.

A new service line under a slab. The plumber installs tracer wire with the new water line. Under a building on single-family property, the rule exempts it, but anywhere else a line that can't be detected from above needs a location device.

1. 1White-line the dig area, unless you're an owner digging on your own single-family lot.
2. 2Request locates with Arizona 811, allowing the required notice and response time. For an apartment community or mobile home park, subsection A also requires a certified-mail landlord inquiry on the one-call center's form, and the landlord has up to ten working days to respond.
3. 3Wait for the required responses and marking in the interactive positive response system. Subsection F has a detailed procedure for an unresponsive landlord; do not replace it with an assumption that ten days elapsed means permission.
4. 4Obtain any permit required by the local authority or utility for the proposed street, right-of-way or easement work (see right-of-way permits by Valley city and utility easement rules by city). The statute says it doesn't preempt city excavation rules.
5. 5Hand dig within 24 inches of any mark, and support exposed lines.
6. 6Extend or refresh the ticket before 15 working days run out.
7. 7Install tracer wire on new non-metallic lines where the law requires it.

• "Blue Stake is only for streets." The statute also covers public utility easements and express or implied private property utility easements.
• "Marks last until the job ends." Fifteen working days, then they need an extension.
• "The locate covers my liability." It doesn't excuse careless digging, and a violator who damages a line is liable to every affected operator for all resulting damages, including economic loss, plus a civil penalty up to $5,000.
• "811 replaces the city permit." It doesn't; cities keep their own excavation rules.

For how cities restore the street afterward, see pavement cut rules by Valley city.

A.R.S. 40-360.21 to 40-360.28 are Arizona's official statutes and public-domain government works; the excerpts above are reproduced from the current published text. Read the full sections on the Arizona Legislature's site: 40-360.22, 40-360.21 definitions, 40-360.23 and 40-360.28 penalties.

This page explains a general Arizona statute and is not legal advice.

When your sewer or water line needs digging, HQ repairs and replaces them, and can review the access and permit requirements with you before scheduling excavation.