When a Locate is needed South Dakota Law Chapter 49-7A requires that anyone who engages in any type of excavation provide advance notice of at least 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, to the South Dakota One-Call System. Excavation is defined as, "any operation which earth, rock, or other material in or on the ground is moved or otherwise displaced by means of tools, equipment, or explosives". Gardening to a depth of 12" and agricultural tilling to 18" are exempted by statute.

How to submit a locate with SD One Call.  Dial 811  Submit a locate request on the SD One Call Sight /portal/ /portal/  The new South Dakota 811 mobile app.

Requesting a locate meet An Appointment request may be issued for a Routine Request (Appointment-Routine), a Planning Request (Appointment-Planning) or a Project Request(Appointment-Project). The size and scope of ticket limitations that exist on the Routine Request, Planning Request, or Project Request are also applicable to the Appointment request that is issued. An appointment request is not a means to avoid complete and accurate excavation site description or the marking of the excavation site with white flags or paint. The excavator should make every effort to clearly define the excavation site with specific details.

Requesting a locate meet cont. If the excavation site is not described on the ticket, at the time of the appointment it is the excavator’s responsibility to provide a written description or map of the specific excavation site. On these tickets, the two working day marking interval will start at the completion of the meet. South Dakota 811 Center answering attendant can only set up an appointments between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time two business days, or later, from the time of the call. If any underground facility operator is unable to make the appointment request, it is the facility operator's responsibility to contact the excavator to make other arrangements.

Requesting cont. SD One call has an expiration date on all locate tickets (21 days) if your ticket is nearing expiration submit an update request. The locate is no longer valid after the expiration date.

Tips For The Locate Requestor. It is the excavator’s responsibility to ensure all facilities have marked/cleared the area of excavation. If at any time you have discovered incorrect locate information, or facilities have not been marked an Excavation Site Verification Request will need to be done by the you the excavator. – You must provide the ticket number, facilities you don’t think have been marked, as much information as possible DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS! You have to make sure that 811 has all the information they need. If you have damaged any underground facility you need to notify South Dakota 811 and tell them which facility was damaged. SD One Call will notify the damaged facility owners as soon as possible.

Responsibilities Of The Facility Operator. After receiving and screening the locate request, each underground facility operator will mark, in a reasonable manner, the location of the exterior edges of their facilities in the field in order to enable the excavator to easily recognize the location and size of buried facilities. Underground facilities marks will reflect the identity of the operator so the excavator is knowledgeable of the facility operator and can make contact if a question exists If a site visit is made, and the operator has no underground facilities in conflict with the excavation area, the operator shall mark in the excavation area “NO” followed by the operator’s name. Responding to locates can not exceed 48hrs. From the initial request.

References ”Location of underground facilities— marking” SD Law 49-7A-8. “Failure to provide timely location markings— Inadequate markings—Liability” SD Law 49- 7A-9. “Excavation Locate Requests” (pg. 5,6,7,8,18,20). South Dakota Operations Manual for Facility Operators and Excavators.