Please call 811 to have underground utility locations marked before you dig in a street right-of-way, public space or utility easement.
State law requires anyone planning excavation work in street rights-of-way, public spaces or utility easements to contact utilities at least two business days before digging so that the utilities can mark the location of their pipes, cables, etc.
OWASA uses blue paint to indicate the location of its water pipes and green paint for our sanitary sewer lines.
Unless it is covered or otherwise obscured, the paint normally remains visible for at least two weeks. Please be aware that OWASA marks only the location of its public underground water and sewer pipes, which are typically in a street right-of-way or utility easement.
We do not locate privately-owned pipes such as water and sewer service lines which run between an OWASA meter and a house or other building. Customers who need to check the location of private water and sewer pipes will need to make other arrangements (such as contacting a plumber or a company that determines pipe locations).
Utility locations will be marked at no charge to you.This service is essential for your safety, to prevent damage to utilities and maintain utility services to you and your neighbors. If the planned work is not completed within 10 days of the initial call, a new request to mark utility locations is required.To make it easy to request that utility locations be marked, the North Carolina One-Call Center serves as a clearinghouse for such requests.Your request is automatically relayed to the participating utilities in the area. More than 200 public and private utilities are members of the NC One-Call Center.