Agenda - Council - 02/14/2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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UPDATE ON UTILITY LOCATION REQUIREMENTS By: Leonard Linton, Civil Engineer CASE Background: The state legislature amended the law regarding utility locations last session. The new law took effect January 1, 2006. The revised law requires that tracer wires be installed with all new non- conductive underground facilities in public right-of-way or provide an equally effective means of locating such facilities. This impacts the City sanitary sewer and storm sewer systems. One viable option is installing a locating wire parallel to the pipe and extending stubs to the surface for connection to locating equipment. Another option that is being used in some cities is to locate the wye and the end of the service with GPS equipment at the time of construction. The pipe locations can be marked with the GPS when a locate request is received. The Capital Equipment Plan anticipated purchase of GPS equipment in a future year. The equipment required has a higher level of accuracy than the handheld units available at most electronics or sporting goods stores and is considerably more expensive. Information on existing lines can be added to the GPS database in the future by televising the lines. The camera measures the distance traveled. The distances to each wye can be entered into the GPS data base and then located in the field. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends installing locating wires for the near term since the budgets for 2006 have been adopted. The potential for purchasing the GPS equipment in 2007 should be investigated prior to adoption of the 2007 budget. Commission Action: Based upon discussion. Reviewed by: Assistant Director Public Works/Principal Engineer Public Works Director PW: 1/17/06 -337-