JULIE Fact Sheet
- JULIE, Inc. (Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators), also known as the “Illinois One-Call System,” is a not-for-profit organization that provides professional excavators and homeowners a free service to contact to request the locating and marking of underground utility facilities.
- The Illinois General Assembly enacted the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act in 1991. The law requires anyone excavating to contact the Illinois One-Call System before digging and requires owners and operators of underground utilities to be members of the one-call system.
- JULIE, Inc. is a free and open 24/7. Simply call 8-1-1 or 800-892-0123, or visit their self-service options.
- JULIE, Inc. is not a utility and neither owns nor marks any underground facilities. JULIE, Inc. serves as a message handling service for its underground utility facility members, taking information about planned excavations and distributing this information to its membership. It is then the responsibility of each member utility to mark the location of their underground facilities at the excavation site.
- Professional excavators and homeowners are required by state law to notify JULIE at least two business days (excluding weekends and holidays) in advance of the start of their project.
UTILITY FLAG COLORS
If you notice small flags of various colors placed in the grass in your neighborhood you may ask, what does this mean? Someone in the vicinity is planning to dig and they called JULIE (811) to mark the areas where utilities such as gas, phone, and electricity have been buried. But what do all the different colors mean?
The American Public Works Association has color-coded all utilities so it’s easy for those in the industry to immediately identify what utility is running where. Here’s a key to the flag colors. Remember, if flags are in your yard, please do not remove them!
🔴 Red: Electric power lines, cables, conduit, and lighting cables
🟠 Orange: Telecommunication, alarm or signal lines, cables, or conduit
🌕 Yellow: Natural gas, oil, steam, petroleum or other gaseous or flammable material
🟢 Green: Sewers and drain lines
🔵 Blue: Drinking water
🟣 Violet: Reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines
⚪️ White: Proposed excavation limits or route
Pink: Temporary survey markings, unknown/unidentified facilities
And REMEMBER.. Also, CALL 811 before you dig.
JULIE, Inc. is a free and open 24/7. Simply call 8-1-1 or 800-892-0123, or visit their self-service options.