Standards sometimes get a bad reputation as we never think of how they help us or society as a whole. Rather, we feel they make life harder. Although we may feel this way, it should be recognized that standards actually make life easier and provide multiple benefits to everyone from the worker to the regulator, the equipment manufacturer to the operator, the buried facility owner to the digging community.

The spatial data industry has made huge advances in the last few years and continues to change and improve at lightning speed. In a world where you can see a street view of your childhood home or go to a city’s online map and see lot numbers and addresses of the newest areas, it can be difficult for users of Click Before You Dig services to understand why it isn’t just that easy on our system, too.

You can pretty much set your watch to the ebb and flow of our digging season. We set the egg-timer to ring in April when the tidal wave, sometimes a tsunami, of locate requests begin. A few months later in early July, when the kids are out of school and homeowners scoot to the mountains for much-needed rest and relaxation, we shift to low tide. By mid-to-late August, when the lengthy summer days shorten, and homeowners return to their households, the next wave of projects begin – a surge that usually sustains to the end of the digging season.

What treasures, mysteries and secrets have been lost to time? Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever found anything more exciting than one of my older brothers’ Hot Wheels where the backyard sandbox used to be but discoveries happen all the time and they can generate some real head-scratching curiosity!

The August 2021 Click to Know What’s Above and Below eNews will be the final edition published under the Alberta One-Call Corporation (AOC) banner. Although AOC unified services with the Alberta Common Ground Alliance, and took over the Where’s the Line? campaign Jan. 1, 2021, the three safety organizations continued to operate as separate entities – but that all changes in the next few weeks as the three become one under the Utility Safety Partners banner.

As work turns away from large scale infrastructure projects and pipeline construction, and instead turns more personal toward the beautification and maintenance of residential properties, know that Alberta One-Call will continue to ensure a consistent and educated level of service all the way from our front line operations staff to the seat of the president. Though the bulk of our season is fading in the rear-view, our eyes remain focused on wrapping up the 2021 season strong.

As I drove across the southern Alberta countryside recently, I crossed over innumerable pipeline rights of way spanning panoramic landscapes adorned by watercourses, farms, livestock, agriculture and various ecosystems. In between the abundance of signage promoting awareness of deer, moose, elk and bear crossings, each pipeline right of way is identified with painted “goal posts” and pipeline markers promoting an emergency number and Call/ClickBeforeYouDig – the only visual reminder that a pipeline is nearby.