Dominion Power's Underground Project Easement Question/Problem

[gemstone1]

"So the Dominion crew incorrectly assumed where our sewer line was and bored through our sewer line which then caused a sewer backup in our basement. Dominion did rectify the problem, but it all could have been avoided."''''

Just curious....how could they have avoided boring through your sewer line ? It belongs to you...did you tell them where it was, and they just ignored you ? Or did you just assume they knew where it was ? And why would they know if it is not "located" by the locator service ? Sewer pipe is not metal, so the traditional locating methods like for cable/power/phone will not work. The typical homeowner will not know where, or how deep the sewer line is located....so it was just an unfortunate accident....unless they were somehow negligent.

Regards
Gemstone1

[woodchuck22013]

The Dominion crew as part of burying the cables checked each yard for a sewer line by looking for the clean-out and estimating where the sewer line was running. We live on a corner. I talked the crew chief, he said that most of the yards on our street turned out to still be on septic, so when they got to our house they saw the cleanout up by the house and assumed that our sewer line went out to the street. It turns out our sewer went out to the other street, which was the one along which they were burying the line. So while boring the power line, they started making the line travel up too soon.

And I had no idea either where the sewer line was buried.

So not the crews fault. They were just doing their job. It would have been better if they had had better info in advance.

And yes a bizarre accident as a few inches either way and they would have missed the sewer pipe.

[JR2k]

Dominion is about to run underground to my house, which sits 1700 feet off the end of the street. Yay!
Sadly, I can't seem to get them or Comcast interested in also running cable to my house at the same time.
It's frustrating, as Comcast could potentially use the same conduit to pull a fiber run to my house.

Would be great to know if Comcast could be forced to offer service now that the easements have been approved. There had to be a new easement, as the previous overhead line is coming from a different direction, not down my street..

Comcast runs to the end of my paved street, Chesterfield county maintains about 200 yards of gravel road, then my driveway begins and goes about 1/3 of a mile. (yeah, I live in the boonies)

Anyone ever hear of Dominion working with Comcast to run service on new cable runs?

[Cub123]

I’ve currently just fought this in Virginia. I bought 40 acres and wanted my electrical lines buried. While “Dominion has a right if given an easement” they have to bury they lines if asked and granted a new easement. You will most likely have to pay for them to bury it and it was $26,000.00 for me to do it over a 1000 ft. However, Comcast has ridden most of their lines (illegally) and with or without neighbors involved “you” can certainly make Comcast pay you back for it and possibly profit depending on their re-routing capabilities and what their agreement is. The electrical company has to go underground if asked and paid, but Comcast probably does not have an easement and therefor has to pay for it and will pay more to not disrupt business if re-routing is a huge concern which is very likely in rural areas and especially if you have neighbors involved. Do not take this lightly, you can make a lot of money and force them of your property or to pay to go underground. Do not agree to allow the to share a trench with Comcast and/or any other company holding the poles. When making your new easement, make sure to dictate that they can’t allow shared trenches and such with ANY third party.

[eBooks123]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"So the Dominion crew incorrectly assumed where our sewer line was and bored through our sewer line which then caused a sewer backup in our basement. Dominion did rectify the problem, but it all could have been avoided."''''

Just curious....how could they have avoided boring through your sewer line ? It belongs to you...did you tell them where it was, and they just ignored you ? Or did you just assume they knew where it was ? And why would they know if it is not "located" by the locator service ? Sewer pipe is not metal, so the traditional locating methods like for cable/power/phone will not work. The typical homeowner will not know where, or how deep the sewer line is located....so it was just an unfortunate accident....unless they were somehow negligent.

Regards
Gemstone1

FWIW I had to have my sewer line (from the house to the middle of the street) replaced. They put in PVC, of course, but ran a copper wire alongside it so that the sewer line would be locatable. This was about a decade ago and they said code required it.

That said, Dominion is planning to bury our power lines soon. They recently had all the lines marked and no one marked my sewer line.

Our area is gonna make them nuts. The only houses that have the white cleanout pipes are the ones who have had their sewer line replaced. The houses with original sewer lines won't have those to go by. Personally, I think they really should ask about it! I'll ask some questions re: this when I talk to dominion tomorrow. At the place where I imagine they'll insert their line, the sewer line is nearly 12' down. I wonder how far down they bury the electrical line? I wonder what the depth of their easement is?

[woodchuck22013]

Dominion just assumed that there wasn't a sewer line in that easement and that our sewer line was going to the other street. We lived on a corner. But the sewer line went to the other street we faced which intersected with the power line easement. And then most of the people on our street weren't connected to the sewer, and thus the Dominion crew just assumed that we weren't either as he couldn't see any cleanouts by our house. It is pretty easy to spot, but they didn't look very hard.

And the 811 crew doesn't mark sewer lines when they come out to mark the utilities.

When they buried ours, the power line was 2-3' deep. Our sewer line was close to 3' deep as we are on a hill and the sewer line had to keep going down hill to the main.

My words of advice would be to get some paint and marking flags and mark where your sewer line is and/or be there the day they do it so you can supervise.