Wisconsin Public Service Reminder: Contact 811 Diggers Hotline (WI) Or Miss Dig (MI) Before ANY Yard

Wisconsin Public Service Reminder: Contact 811 Diggers Hotline (WI) Or Miss Dig (MI) Before ANY Yard Project Involving Digging Begins

Green Bay, WI – Yard projects are starting up again. Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) reminds everyone to call 8-1-1 or go online to contact DIGGERS HOTLINE in Wisconsin or MISS DIG in Michigan BEFORE any projects involving digging begins.

DIGGERS HOTLINE in Wisconsin and MISS DIG in Michigan are local one-call centers that notify the appropriate utility companies of the customer's intent to dig. Professional locators are then sent to the requested digging site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags, paint or both.

Striking a single buried natural gas or electric line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient service interruptions for potentially large areas in communities.

Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to 8-1-1. Installing a mailbox, building a deck and planting a tree or garden are all examples of digging projects that should first begin with a call to 8-1-1 or notifying your state's underground utility location service.

National records show that every six minutes an underground utility line is damaged because someone decided to dig without first calling 8-1-1. Last year, WPS customers requested over 126,000 locates through the states' digging hotlines and websites and had 175 accidental natural gas line hits resulting in damage.

WPS says there is still a misconception that home owners think the 8-1-1 DIGGER'S HOTLINE (WI) or MISS DIG (MI) hotline only applies to contractors using large power digging equipment. If a project in your yard involves a shovel, the customer should first be calling 8-1-1 or accessing the appropriate hotline's website and follow online instructions.

Wisconsin Public Service has 7,800 miles of underground natural gas pipeline and about 6,000 miles of underground electrical line in 19 northeastern and north central Wisconsin counties and a small portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

This April marks the eighth annual National Safe Digging Month, reminding everyone to always call 8-1-1 before any digging project.

Additional information is available at the Wisconsin Public Service website.