Every year there are 400,000 incidents of damage to underground utilities during excavation in the U.S. This is a world wide problem but some jurisdictions have found ways to reduce the number of underground utility hits. For example, in 2016 Japan recorded 134 instances. Another example is the City of Calgary which requires all network operators with underground infrastructure under public rights-of-way to submit to the city electronic as-builts showing the location of newly installed network equipment. I have just received a copy of the City of Calgary Bylaw governing utilities in public rights-of-way. It provides a model for any jurisdiction that wants to improve the quality of its information about the location of underground utilities.
A number of years ago I did some work with a Calgary electric power utility involving replacing a paper-based records management system with one in which all geospatial data was stored in an Oracle RDBMS. As a result the utility reduced its as-built and update backlogs to 24 hours. This made it possible for the utility to provide up-to-date cable location information to the City of Calgary - referred to as Joint Utility Mapping Project (JUMP). At that time the utility realized significant benefits from the shared underground utility information. First of all, improved quality of service. A concrete example that every utility or telco can relate to is one-call. Prior to implementing their geospatial system, the utility maintained a fleet of 20 or so vans and roughly the same number of staff whose sole responsibility was cable locate which involved going out to the sites of a proposed excavations to identify where electrical cables and other infrastructure were to help excavators avoid damaging them. Before the JUMP shared database for very 1000 calls they received from contractors planning to excavate, on average there were nine incidents of damage or "hits", where the excavator dug up a cable and caused a power outage. After the JUMP implementation, the "hit" rate dropped 36-fold to 0.25 per 1000 calls. In addition because there was a single JUMP data store containing the location of all facilities in the city, they were able to reduce their cable locate fleet to something like two vans instead of 20, which saved the utility a not inconsiderable amount of money. Secondly, the electric power regulator in Alberta was much happier because they saw an improvement in the quality of the utility's facilities data. Every year they required utilities to undergo an audit, where an independent auditor took a sample of facilities data out into the field and compared it with reality. The auditor reported something like 99.6% reliability, which is remarkable given that 70-80% is more typical of the industry.
I have just had a chance to go through the latest amended version of the city Bylaw (17M2016 with amendments in 2017 and 2018) the relevant details of which I thought it would be worthwhile to share. The purpose of the Bylaw is to define how a network operator can access City rights-of-way such as roads for purposes of constructing, maintaining or operating its equipment including telecommunication, electrical, natural gas, steam, water wastewater and storm water facilities and pipelines.
The Bylaw includes provisions with some similarities to other jurisdictions in North America regarding existing infrastructure. A network operator is required to provide the 3D location, line and elevation, of its equipment on public rights-of-way to the City within 5 business days of receiving the request from the City. If requested the network operator must physically identify the location of its equipment by marking the service corridor and using paint, staking or another suitable method for identification.
The unique and interesting parts of this bylaw relate to new infrastructure. It requires submission of electronic as-builts by network operators, provides for on-site inspections to verify the as-builts, and assigns costs and liabilities for underground equipment whose location as reported in as-builts is unreliable.
The bylaw requires that each network operator submit as-built drawings in electronic format, typically DWG files, to the City within 60 calendar days following completion of installation of its equipment on a public right-of-way. The as-builts are required to comply with two key provisions
- The equipment is less than 35 centimeters horizontally and vertically from the centre line approved in the utility alignment permit
- It adheres to the CSA S250 quality standard.
The bylaw appears to have real teeth. The City reserves the right to carry out on-site inspections the cost of which is shared between the network operator and the City. The network operator is required to give the City 3 days’ notice prior to completion of work to allow for scheduling of the inspection. If during an inspection (or at any other time) the City identifies deficiencies in the network operator’s compliance, the City can declare the equipment non-compliant. The City can then take steps to ensure network operator does whatever is necessary, at the network operator's cost, to bring the equipment into compliance. Specifically a network operator must pay for 100% of the direct costs for relocations of non-compliant equipment as well as indirect costs including any damages, liabilities, re-design costs and associated delay costs incurred by other participants in a public right of way resulting from the network operator's non-compliant equipment.
I see this as a model for any jurisdiction that wants to improve the reliability of the information about the location of underground utilities in public right-of-ways.
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