What are private utilities and secondary locates?

Most excavating contractors know it is the law to book Alberta One-Call locates to receive a 1st call locate and clearance to dig before any ground disturbance occurs. Alberta One-Call only locates utilities from the main service line to the first termination point on the property, in and around the excavation zone. 1st call may not catch all of the underground utilities on the site, for example, a secondary gas or power line running from a house to a shop or garage, irrigation lines, or telecommunications lines.

Your responsibility as a ground disturber is to ensure that you have located all underground utilities in the excavation area. Therefore, it may also be necessary to complete secondary locates for private utilities. Whether you are a landscaper, homeowner, site foreman, or a seasoned excavating contractor, you are responsible for knowing what is below.

With this knowledge in mind, TerraVac offers a unique service in the Hydrovac service sector by locating known utilities with our Hydrovac and using an induction locator (not witching sticks) to help find unknown utilities or to speed up the Hydrovac dig time. With this unique service, TerraVac aims to maximize productivity while minimizing your expenses.

Hydrovacing by nature is advantageous to eliminate damage to underground utilities by locating them before excavation.

Line Inspection Services

TerraVac can assist with problem diagnosis and identification using specialized camera equipment to determine the location of a defect and, from there, potential resolution options for sewers, other pipes, and conduits. Line inspection will speed up the repair time, Hydrovac time, and eliminate guesswork, enabling you to complete the task quickly for your customer while capturing video evidence.

Please note, although TerraVac operators are certified trained line locators (Tech 1), there may be situations where not all underground utilities can be found using current locating equipment available on the market due to utility interference, poor tracer wire installation, bad connections, or other unforeseen scenarios. TerraVac will use all reasonable efforts to locate the secondary utilities on the site effectively. TerraVac is not liable for any loss or damages to utilities by excavating contractors that were marked or not by TerraVac locators.