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ds to New Membership
a few hours. But all of the lines had
to be bled and hydrants cleared after the repair was made, so a lot of work and time went into the repair, plus the wasted water.
It didn’t click for Paul that the town needed to join AL811 until they experienced the outage.
“It was after that when we realized we weren’t being called to have our locate lines. We are a small system so there aren’t very many locate requests, but there have been several since we signed up,” Paul said.
Once the emergency situation was under control, Paul contacted AL811 and initiated the process to join.
“Joining was pretty easy. We ended
up with a 30-minute discussion on a Zoom call and then they sent us the paperwork. Then, we filled out the map where our main lines were located. It took a couple of hours, but not bad,” Paul said.
Many of the town’s lines that were installed in the past either didn’t include a tracer wire or had tracer tape that is difficult to locate. As a result of this new approach to damage prevention, the town’s new policy will include a tracer wire for new water infrastructure going forward. And, of course, those new lines will also be mapped in the Alabama 811 GIS system as they are added.
While the town is working to hire
a new full-time licensed operator (Paul is a volunteer), locates will be contracted out to a local crew in a nearby town. Once things settle down a bit, Paul expects the town’s water techs will be trained on locating equipment, which will save the town time and money.
Overall, Paul said the transition to becoming an AL811 member was smooth, and he would recommend other municipalities to consider joining as well.
“It’s cost-effective for a town like us. It’s only $30 to $35 per month for a town of our size. Every town is in the same situation — it’s either pay me now
or pay me later,” Paul said of joining Alabama 811 proactively or waiting until costly damages occur.
For additional information on membership in Alabama, a nonprofit member organization, visit www. al811.com and click the “Members” link, and complete the membership application. Alabama 811’s staff will contact you to set up a meeting to review the membership requirements and answer any questions. Alabama’s underground damage prevention law does require all underground facility owners to participate in the designated one-call program. If a facility owner
is not a member, they cannot recoup the cost of damage repairs. The cost of annual membership is often offset by just the reduction of one damage to underground facilities.
2024, Issue 2 Alabama 811 • 7