Does Tennessee 811 Mark My Water and Sewer Lines? What Homeowners Need to Know Before Digging

You submit an 811 locate request before a project and colored paint or flags appear in the yard.

That does not necessarily mean every buried line on the property has been located.

Tennessee 811 explains that it is the notification center. It sends the excavation notice to participating utility operators, and those operators or their contract locators mark the underground facilities they installed or maintain. The same Tennessee 811 guidance also identifies privately owned lines that may fall outside those utility markings. See the current Tennessee 811 FAQ.

For a homeowner, the useful question is:

Which lines are the utility operators marking, and which lines may still be private?

A Locate Request Does Not Mean Every Private Line Gets Marked

Member utilities are notified based on the excavation area identified in the ticket. The operators then respond for the facilities they own, installed, or maintain.

Private facilities are a separate category.

The FAQ specifically lists examples that can include:

• water services between the meter and a house or building,
• sewer laterals connecting a house or building to a sewer main,
• sprinkler and irrigation lines,
• certain electric, gas, propane, alarm, or communication lines beyond a utility’s point of responsibility.

So the absence of a utility mark is not proof that the excavation area contains no buried line.

That distinction matters before landscaping, fence installation, drainage work, or another project that will disturb the ground.

For a Normal Locate Request, Allow the Time Tennessee 811 Specifies

Before digging, follow the instructions on the current Tennessee 811 ticket for that project rather than relying on the timing from an older locate request.

For a normal locate request, current Tennessee 811 guidance instructs homeowners and excavators to provide at least three working days’ notice, excluding weekends and holidays. The ticket process can be started online or by calling 811. See Tennessee 811’s current ticket guidance.

The ticket guidance also tells excavators to follow the legal start date before beginning work. If a project schedule, ticket status, or excavation condition changes, use the current Tennessee 811 instructions rather than relying on a previous project’s timeline.

The Water Service Between the Meter and the House May Be Private

The FAQ lists the water service between the meter and the house or building as an example of a privately owned underground line.

Before excavation, condition is not the first question. Location is.

If the work area approaches the route between the meter and the building, confirm whether that private-side line has actually been located. Utility paint elsewhere in the yard does not establish the route of an unmarked private water service.

Once the line has been located, a leak, break, or replacement question becomes a separate plumbing decision. If that is the question you have reached, continue to Gold Star’s water service line repair or replacement service.

A Sewer Lateral May Also Be Outside the Marking You Expected

The FAQ also lists sewer laterals connecting a house or building to a sewer main as examples of privately owned facilities.

A public sewer mark therefore should not be treated as proof that every private segment between the building and the main has been identified.

When a private line is not covered by utility markings, the FAQ says a private locator may be able to help and provides information about private utility locators. Tennessee 811 does not arrange that private locator for the homeowner.

Keep the two jobs separate:

Locating answers where the private sewer line runs before excavation.

Sewer inspection answers what is physically happening inside a line whose condition needs evaluation. If the second question is the one you have reached, continue to the Sewer Inspections service.

Confirm the Private Lines Before the Project Reaches Them

A Tennessee 811 locate request is one part of safe excavation planning. The markings reflect the facilities each participating operator is responsible for locating, not every private line that may cross the property.

If the work area may contain a private water service, sewer lateral, irrigation line, or another privately owned facility, confirm whether that line has actually been located before the project reaches it.

The next call depends on the unresolved question:

• Where is the private line? Follow Tennessee 811’s private-locator guidance or arrange an appropriate private-line locating service.
• Is a located water service damaged or leaking? Move to Water Line Repair & Replacement.
• What is the physical condition of a located private sewer line? Move to Sewer Inspections.

Calling 811 starts the participating-utility locating process.

The private-line check tells you what may still be missing from the markings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Tennessee 811 marks show how deep the line is?

No. Tennessee 811 says utilities are not required to provide depth information with their markings, and a line’s depth can change over time. Paint, flags, or stakes should not be treated as a promise that a facility is a certain number of inches below the surface.

How long is a Tennessee 811 locate ticket valid?

Tennessee 811 currently says a ticket is valid for 15 calendar days after the legal start date on the ticket. If the excavation will continue beyond that period, contact 811 at least three working days before the ticket expires to request an update.

What if the legal start time arrives and a utility still has not responded or marked?

Check the responses in Tennessee 811’s Ticket Search first. If responses are missing, or there is clear evidence of an unmarked member utility, Tennessee 811 says the excavator should contact 811 and submit a second notice. There is no additional mandatory wait after that second notice, but Tennessee 811 recommends waiting until the lines are marked before digging. That process applies to missing member-utility responses; a privately owned line can still require a separate private locator.

Tennessee 811 procedural information checked: August 18, 2026. Recheck before publication and before relying on the article for a future excavation project.

Once locating is complete, if the unresolved question is a damaged private water service or the condition of a private sewer line, call Gold Star’s Nashville-area plumbing team at (615) 290-9860.