Q. We are removing existing monitoring wells and therefore we know there are no utilities at that exact location; do we still need to obtain up to date locates?
A. Yes – There are no provisions in the legal stuff for “re-excavation”, i.e., there is nothing that indicates that if you drilled there before, you don’t have to obtain locates again. That may seem extreme from a practical perspective, but unbelievably there has been a case where a monitoring well was installed only inches from a gas line, causing no problems when it was installed. If locates were not completed prior to the well removal, the larger auger size used for over drilling would have damaged the gas line and may have caused a disaster. As with many locate issues, being 99.99 % sure is not enough.
Utility Locate FAQs
- No drilling was undertaken – Will we be invoiced anyway?
- Will you drill if locates are beyond 30 days old, even if nothing has changed?
- Do we need Ontario One Call for drilling inside?
- Can we just get a private locator instead of One Call?
- Do we need locates to decommission existing wells?
- What if most locates are done?
- What if the locator is coming later?
- What if other drillers will do it without complete locates?
- No locates, but the site owner knows where everything is
- What if we take responsibility for you hitting a line?
- We have as built drawings instead of locates
- We have witched it Is that okay?
- Do we need to contact hydro too?
- The building is abandoned; do we need locates?
- We are drilling at the base of an excavation
- There is more than one municipal address
- We are drilling on private property only; do we still need to get all the locates?